Author: Dr. K

Movie Night [Sci-Fanuary]: Dredd

Dr. K2 Comments

January sees the celebration of two notable dates in science-fiction history, with January 2 christened “National Science Fiction Day” to coincide with the birth date of the world renowned sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov, and HAL 9000, the sophisticated artificial intelligence of Arthur C. Clarke’s seminal 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), being created on 12 January. This year, however, I’ve been spending every Thursday of January celebrating sci-fi’s toughest lawman, Judge Joseph Dredd!

Released: 7 September 2012
Director: Pete Travis
Distributor: Entertainment Film Distributors
Budget: $30 to 45 million
Stars: Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby, Lena Headey, Wood Harris, and Domhnall Gleeson

The Plot:
In 2080, where most of the United States is a nuclear wasteland, humanity is packed into violent Mega-Cities where the only force for order are the Judges, who act as judge, jury, and executioner. Mega-City One’s top enforcer, the surly Judge Joseph Dredd (Urban) and his apprentice partner, psychic Judge Cassandra Anderson (Thirlby), are forced to bring order to a 200-storey high-rise block of apartments overtaken by resident drug lord, Madeline “Ma-Ma” Madrigal (Headey).

The Background:
Created by John Wagner, Carlos Ezquerra, and Pat Mills, grim-faced lawman of the future Judge Joseph Dredd first appeared in the pages of British science-fiction comic book 2000 AD in March 1977. The character and his unique brand of extreme political satire were met with near-instant popularity, meaning a live-action adaptation was all-but inevitable. Unfortunately, Judge Dredd (Cannon, 1995) failed to match the appeal of a similarly-themed action/sci-fi classic, RoboCop (Verhoeven, 1987), and ended up being such a critical and commercial failure that its leading man and Dredd’s co-creator were left dissatisfied with the results. It took the better part of ten years for the concept to be revisited for the silver screen in the form of a reboot that would take advantage of the growing popularity of 3D cinema. After writer Alex Garland’s initial draft proved a little too ambitious, he excised the Dark Judges and chose to focus on a typical, violent day in the life of the titular Judge. Karl Urban stepped into the role and underwent rigorous preparation to emphasise the rugged physicality of the character, which was more grounded in realism and this was reflected in Dredd’s redesigned outfit, which promoted practicality and durability above all else, and agreed wholeheartedly in keeping his face covered by the iconic helmet. The filmmakers aimed to take full advantage of the 3D effect when rendering the disorientating hallucinogenic effects of the “Slo-Mo” drug to craft some unique and violent action sequences. Unfortunately, Dredd’s $41.5 million gross meant that the film was a flop and any plans for a sequel were seemingly dashed. Critically, Dredd fared quite well; reviews praised Urban’s faithful portrayal of the character, his supporting cast, and the film’s impressive visual effects and it found an audience on home video, leading to petitions for a sequel. A comic book continuation and animated spin-off were produced and Urban was reported to be in talks to reprise his role for a TV series based around the character but, as of this writing, this has yet to materialise.

The Review:
I was just a kid when I watched Judge Dredd; granted, I’d read my fair share of the comics and was primarily a fan of any stories involving the Dark Judges and also a big RoboCop fan, so I remember being easily pleased by the film’s bombastic action and blunt one-liners. It’s fair to say, though, for as visually interesting as the film is, it somewhat misses the mark when it comes to being an accurate portrayal of the character. It’s not just the toothless violence and zany comedy, it’s the fundamental idea of trying to humanise the tough-as-nails embodiment of a fascist regime. I understand why this route was taken, and it’s not as if the comics haven’t endeavoured to show Judge Dredd isn’t completely unreasonable or devoid of compassion, but all the pieces for a decent adaptation of the character were in place but ultimately lost due to conflicts over the film’s tone. When I heard a new Judge Dredd movie was coming, I was cautiously optimistic; I’m a big fan of Karl Urban, he always does really well in every role he’s given so it was exciting for him to be the lead of a big action franchise, but I’ll admit that, somehow, Dredd passed me by. Perhaps it only got a limited release here in the UK, or was pulled from cinemas because of stiff competition, but I didn’t see it until I bought the DVD and I remember being sour about that as it turned out to be a surprisingly enjoyable sci-fi/action romp that is well deserving of its status as an under-appreciated cult classic.

Stern Judge Dredd maintains his authority even when conducting a training assessment.

Dredd immediately takes centre stage here; don’t get me wrong, I love James Earl Jones as much as the next person, but there’s something decidedly gritty and Frank Miller-esque about having Dredd’s gravelly tone set the stage through voice over. Dredd makes pains to paint the Judge not as a crusader for justice, but as a beat cop who’s daily life is filled with violence and hardship; just seeing him tape his hands and shrug on his uniform is glimpse enough of the man behind the helmet, which obscures all but his constant scowl and presents him as a representative of the last bastion of law and order rather than some superhero. Dredd’s clearly been on the job a long time; he’s made a name for himself, is a senior street Judge, and is perfectly capable of handling situations by himself even when he’s outgunned or outmanned, and is portrayed as a very pragmatic and adaptable street cop. Little surprises him, he makes a point to priorities medical assistance for the wounded and clean up crews for the dead, and even choosing to stun rather than execute a couple of terrified kids when they try to kill him on Ma-Ma’s orders. As he takes his job very seriously, Judge Dredd has extremely high expectations of all Judges and that goes double for rookies like Judge Anderson. Although Dredd disapproves of Anderson being given one last shot to make the grade, he obeys orders and keeps a close eye on her assessment throughout the film, sternly letting her know how low her chances are and of his expectations of her. Highly adaptable and showing no fear, Dredd is at his most dangerous when backed into a corner but remains steadfastly committed to the job; even when Ma-Ma locks down Peach Trees and sets the entire complex against them, Dredd continues Anderson’s assessment and maintains a commanding authority throughout, even when confronted by corrupt Judges. There’s a drive in Dredd that’s beyond simple duty, however; even when back-up is imminent, Dredd opts to attack Ma-Ma head on rather than wait it out, and he continues to fight even after being gravely injured by a bullet to the abdomen.

Psychic rookie Anderson endures a trial by fire that sees her adopt some of Dredd’s harsher attitudes.

Given my fondness for the Dark Judges, I was happy to see Psi-Division’s Judge Anderson included in Dredd. Unlike her first appearance in the comics, Anderson is a rookie, an orphan who gained psychic abilities due to radiation fallout, who has failed to pass the bar required of Judges but whom the Chief Judge (Rakie Ayola) is keen to give a trial by fire since she’s by far the most powerful psychic they’ve ever encountered. At the start of the film, Anderson acts very much as an audience surrogate and a means of exposition; as part of her training, Dredd demands that she gives an assessment on their situation as it changes and offers up suggestions of how to proceed, and largely she acquits herself well. She’s clearly done her homework, which is more than evident in her just barely failing to pass the bar, but she’s untested in the field and that initially causes her to panic and hesitate where Dredd remains grim-faced and stoic. Unlike Dredd, who is simply trying to keep a lid on the powder keg of violence in the city, Anderson truly believes she can make a difference; she grew up as desperate and destitute as the inhabitants of Peach Trees and wants to help inspire the few good people who live in such squalor, an ambition even the stern Dredd sees as admirable. Indeed, initially Anderson is haunted at her first execution, Japhet (Scott Sparrow), and the guilt she feels at depriving his wife, Cathy (Nicole Bailey) and baby, but Anderson’s empathy, which would normally be seen as a positive and humanising characteristic, is toughened by her experiences as she learns to adopt Dredd’s hasher methods. While Dredd is somewhat dismissive of mutants like Anderson, her abilities come in handy more than once; it’s thanks to them that she’s able to read Kay’s (Harris) mind and link him to Ma-Ma, something which later comes to harden her character when he tries to taunt her with disturbing and violent sexual thoughts and she turns the tables on him with a confrontation in his mind that reveals the extent of Ma-Ma’s operation.

Callous and psychotic, drug kingpin Ma-Ma craves only power and violence.

Rather than weave in some of Judge Dredd’s more recognisable villains, Dredd keeps things noticeably low-key and introduces a brand-new antagonist, former prostitute turned psychopathic drug kingpin Ma-Ma, who has taken root within the Peach Trees Mega Block. Hooked on Slo-Mo and scarred from a lifetime of abuse and torment, Ma-Ma is numb to all pain and emotion; she impassively orders the skinning and public execution of three rogue dealers, approving the use of Slo-Mo to draw out their agony, and who seized control of the entire tower through sheer violence and the scarcity of Judge presence at Peach Trees. So great is Ma-Ma’s power and influence that she’s not only able to coerce her genius and neurotic hacker (Gleeson) into locking down Peach Trees to contain the Judges she also orders that they be hunted down on pain of death and her influence extends into the justice system, seeing her pit Dredd against four of his corrupt peers. Beyond compassion, with a penchant for violence, Ma-Ma has inspired an almost cult-like following; while she’s no fighter, she has a legion of gun-toting followers who are fiercely loyal (even though she regularly punishes failure with death), though even she is enraged when Dredd callously tosses her right-hand man, Caleb (Warrick Grier), to his death. She’s so determined to stamp out the Judges that she thinks nothing of the innocent inhabitants caught in the crossfire and exhibits a lack of humanity that’s almost on par with Dredd’s, except even he prioritises life over death unless absolutely necessary. Although we don’t delve deeply into either Ma-Ma or Dredd’s personality, it’s explicitly conveyed that Ma-Ma has fought her whole life and is driven only by power. Effectively dead inside, it’s as though she’s sleepwalking through life, driven to experience some semblance of feeling before her inevitable death, something that makes her incredibly dangerous, not just because she has all the guns and all the power but also because she has no fear of death.

The Nitty-Gritty:
A major aspect of Dredd is just how desolate life is within Mega-City One; over 17000 crimes are reported within the city, and the Judges are only capable or responding to about 6% of them, meaning the city has basically lost itself to anarchy. In this harsh environment, only the strong survive, and Dredd is depicted as just that: a survivor. Unlike in the previous film, he’s not seen without his helmet save for a fleeting, obscured shot right at the beginning, which by itself more accurately reflects the character than the entirety of the last movie, but Dredd makes pains to shy away from delving too deeply into Dredd’s motivation or backstory. When probed by Anderson, we learn that he’s full of rage and control and something else, something explicitly unidentified but seen to be a code of honour that prioritises life and the law. Dredd does showcase a dry, sardonic sense of humour; gallows’ humour, if you will, offering perps the choice between a lifetime of imprisonment without parole or death, commenting on Anderson’s skills and lack of helmet, and daring Kay to save him some paperwork by just confessing to his crimes. Rather than try an humanise Dredd, something that’s completely unnecessary as he exists as the extreme personification of the fragile justice system, the movie wisely focuses on Anderson as a more morally guided and unsure Judge; she shows the empathy and exhibits the humanity, but ironically her character arc is learning to let go of such emotions and take on Dredd’s more pragmatic and hard-nosed approach towards criminals so that she too can survive on the streets.

Although trapped in a high-rise tower, Dredd still has plenty of toys at his disposal.

As ever, Mega-City One is a bleak, overpopulated, violent hell-hole; the Cursed Earth is only fleetingly seen and mentioned as the focus of Dredd is on the city itself, now no longer inspired by Blade Runner (Scott, 1982) or even that evocative of the source material and instead being a rundown mish-mash of existing US cities. In fact, the general rundown presentation of the city more recalls District 9 (Blomkamp, 2009), characterising the city as a much more grounded and realistic location which is actually in keeping with Dredd’s earliest appearances, before the term “Mega-City One” was coined. Amidst the ruins of the “old world” exist Mega Blocks, towering skyscrapers full to the brim with people from all walks of life, the streets are clogged with traffic and rioting, and hundreds of crimes break out every second of the day. Our time spent on the streets of Mega-City One is fleeting as, after responding to a homicide report at the Peach Trees Mega Block, Judge Dredd and Anderson are trapped in the futuristic tower block, cut off from backup, and left to deal not only with Ma-Ma’s crazy followers but the desperate inhabitants of Peach Trees who both refuse to shelter the Judges or out-right attack them to curry Ma-Ma’s favour. While restricting Dredd to such an unremarkable and claustrophobic environment may seem limited, it actually works quite well; the point of Dredd is not to be some world- or city-saving escapade, but to depict a typical, violent day in the life of the famous lawman, which is definitely succeeds at. Plus, Peach Trees is surprisingly diverse; it’s like a city within a city, containing living quarters in various states of disrepair, malls, drug dens, and its corridors and apartments acting as alleyways and crack houses, respectively. It’s in this desolate, rust-red tower block that the Blade Runner influence comes into play yet there’s still some impressive technology in Dredd’s gritty and grounded war-torn future; the Judges constantly monitor the city using advanced drones, impossibly huge skyscrapers pepper the city, and, while it can’t fly and has a more functional design, Dredd’s Lawmaster still allows him to easily chase down perps, fire upon them, and subdue lingering crowds. Dredd is again armed with the Lawgiver, which is still be tied to his genetic code so it’ll explode in the wrong hands and once again fires a variety of ammo, including hotshot rounds that burn a perp’s face from the inside out, high explosive rounds to blast through walls and blow off heads (!), and incendiary fire to immolate Ma-Ma’s followers along with half a floor of Peach Trees!

As good as the Judges look, the slow-motion and gritty violence and an undeniable highlight of the film.

Although Dredd’s Judges don an extremely different uniform compared to the comics, I think it works really well; their helmets, especially, are as faithful as you could want, as are their badges, but the entire uniform is now more like practical riot gear rather than form-fitting spandex. Instead of heavy and cumbersome gold eagles and plates, they have reinforced armour that evokes the classic Judge imagery while still being believable. Of course, the big selling point of Dredd, like many films at the time, was its 3D effects. Dredd actually employs these effects into the plot and in an interesting way; whenever characters take a hit of Ma-Ma’s Slo-Mo drug, they’re inundated with a hallucinogenic high that sees them perceive time in slow motion. If its decidedly gloomy visuals and far grimmer interpretation of Judge Dredd didn’t immediately clue you in that Dredd was taking the character in a different direction, the film’s mature content soon will! There’s no “Drokk!” curses here (character’s drop the f-bomb at every turn) and no sugar-coating the bloodshed as perps are torn to shreds, often in agonising slow motion that really shows the bullets ripping through flesh and faces in gruesome detail. Easily the biggest and most explosive set piece in the film sees Ma-Ma’s gang unload on Dredd with three rotary cannons that tear through solid concrete and human flesh like they were tissue paper. Much of Dredd’s action scene involve him callously blasting at foes using his whittling ammunition; using cover and confusion from smoke and fire, Dredd guns down multiple armed foes with a deft grace thanks to Karl Urban carrying himself with a militaristic legitimacy. A bruiser of a fighter, Dredd absolutely brutalises even his fellow Judges in a fist fight, though for all his well-deserved reputation, he’s still a man and fully capable of being injured and enduring some harsh physical punishment as he insists on fighting through Ma-Ma’s forces.

Despite their injuries, the Judges topple Ma-Ma and emerge alive and ready for duty.

Ultimately, Anderson’s concerns that Kay will become a liability come to fruition when he desperately takes her hostage to try and appease Ma-Man and use her as leverage against Judge Dredd. Undeterred, Dredd issues a warning throughout the tower block, uttering the iconic “I am the law” line and putting all of Peach Trees on notice. Disgusted at his fellow Judge’s corruption, Dredd confronts them in Ma-Ma’s Slo-Mo factory in a tense game of cat and mouse where they debate the state of the city before engaging in a tense firefight that leaves Dredd with a bullet in his abdomen, but nonetheless victorious thanks to the timely intervention of Anderson, who fought her way out of Ma-Mas clutches after Kay’s overconfidence cost him a hand to her Lawgiver. After patching himself up and reloading, Dredd acknowledges the change in Anderson’s demeanour; despite already having failed since she lost her sidearm, she justifies letting the tormented hacker go free and joins Dredd in picking off Ma-Ma’s personal guard and breaching her quarters. There, they find she has rigged herself with a dead man’s switch; if she dies, a series of bombs will destroy the entire Mega Block. Undeterred, Dredd simply delivers a mortal wound and gives her a taste of her own medicine, dosing her up on Slo-Mo and sending her plummeting to her spectacular and oddly beautiful death, betting (rightfully so) that her device’s range won’t reach from the ground floor. Finally put out of her impassive misery, Ma-Ma rides the euphoria of her death before crashing to the ground in hauntingly glorious slow-motion. With the lockdown lifted, the Judges finally exit the building and Anderson, assuming she’s failed her evaluation, hands Dredd her badge. However, Dredd reveals to the Chief Judge that Anderson passed with flying colours and, despite his injuries, Dredd returns to his duties as Mega-City One’s top lawman with no fuss or fanfare.

The Summary:
Unlike with Sylvester Stallone’s outing as the iconic lawman of the future, there’s no hesitation in crowing about my fondness for Dredd; it’s a decidedly more low-key offering for the hard-as-nails Judges but it benefits from it. It’s not some bombastic, clustered mess of visuals and jokes and opposing tones; it’s a dirty, grim and gritty affair that perfectly shows how every day, every battle, in Dredd’s life is a mini war all unto itself. Karl Urban is absolutely inspired in the role; an imposing bruiser, he convey so much emotion with the subtlest movements and twitches of his constantly-scowling mouth and delivers an understated, but nuance, performance with his gravelly tones. Olivia Thirlby and Lena Headey equally hold their own, with Thirlby’s turn as psychic Anderson and acting as the film’s more empathetic voice, one that’s forced to concede that Dredd’s view is the only one that can allow a Judge to survive, really helps the film standout from its predecessor. I’m no fan of excessive slow motion but it’s used sparingly and to great effect here, as is the use of CGI, but where Dredd really shines is in its costume design and grainy aesthetic. While it definitely shies away from Dredd’s more outlandish escapades, Dredd perfectly captures the grim, bleak spirit of the source material and it is, quite frankly, absolutely criminal that we never got to see a sequel as this is easily not only the best of the Judge Dredd movies but also a highly enjoyable action romp with the perfect balance of action, humour, gore, and political intrigue to finally do the character justice.

My Rating:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Great Stuff

Did you enjoy Dredd? How do you think it compares to the previous live-action adaptation? What did you like to Karl Urban’s performance and this interpretation of Dredd? Did you like that the film told a more low-key story or would you have liked to see something a little grander in scope? Were you impressed by the film’s visual style, costume design, and use of slow motion? Would you have liked to see a sequel to Dredd or do you think it’s time for a new version of the character? Whatever you think, go ahead and leave a comment down below or on my social media and be sure to check out my other Judge Dredd content.

Game Corner [Sci-Fanuary]: Super Metroid (Nintendo Switch)

Dr. K6 Comments

January sees the celebration of two notable dates in science-fiction history, with January 2 christened “National Science Fiction Day” to coincide with the birth date of the world renowned sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov, and HAL 9000, the sophisticated artificial intelligence of Arthur C. Clarke’s seminal 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), being created on 12 January.

Released: 5 September 2019
Originally Released: 19 March 1994
Developer: Nintendo
Original Developer: Nintendo R&D1 Intelligent Systems
Also Available For: Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo Wii U, Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)

The Background:
In August 1986, Nintendo fans were introduced to Samus Aran, the bad-ass bounty hunter protagonist of the Metroid series (Various, 1986 to present). Well-received upon release for its challenging gameplay and now heralded as one of the greatest games ever made, Metroid helped popularise an entire sub-genre of gaming; “Metroidvania” titles became known for being action-orientated games that emphasised exploration and the acquisition of power-ups to progress. Metroid was followed by the Game Boy-exclusive Metroid II: Return of Samus (Nintendo R&D1, 1991), which was both my first experience of the franchise and a largely divisive title that nonetheless directly influenced, at least narratively, the franchise’s jump to Nintendo’s ground-breaking 16-bit console. Producer Gunpei Yokoi and much of the original team returned for Super Metroid, which took two years to develop and took advantage of the SNES’s greater processing power to allow Samus to fire in all directions and explore a far larger, interconnected environment with a detailed map system. This also allowed the team to pull off more diverse visual effects, including more cinematic cutscenes that allowed them to pay greater homage to the Alien franchise (Various, 1979 to present), alongside a team of young, hungry developers. The result was a game met with universal critical acclaim; despite disappointing sales in the United States due to a poorly-timed release, Super Metroid was lauded for its impressive visuals, tight gameplay, and balancing combat with exploration and a steep challenge. A quintessential title in any SNES library, Super Metroid was accompanied by a Nintendo Power comic and ported to numerous consoles, including the Nintendo Switch Online service soon after it launched, allowing new generations of gamers (and myself) to experience it for the first time.

The Plot:
After a Metroid larva is stolen from the Ceres space colony by the monstrous Ridley, bounty hunter Samus Aran returns to the planet Zebes to retrieve the sample and exterminate Ridley and his Space Pirates once and for all!

Gameplay:
Super Metroid is a 2D action-adventure game in which the player once again assumes the role of Samus Aran, a highly capable bounty hunter, and sets off on a quest full of jumping, running, and backtracking (oh, so much backtracking) in order to eradicate the Space Pirates. Essentially, it’s a remake of Metroid in very much the same way Super Castlevania IV (Konami, 1991) is a remake of Castlevania (ibid, 1986); it takes many of the same mechanics, locations, and bosses of the first game and gives them a whole new, super sexy 16-bit makeover. Right away, the player can select between English and Japanese text and has access to three save files (though the Nintendo Switch’s save states and rewind functions negate a lot of this); the player can also customise the game’s controls and choose to turn Samus’s new “Moonwalk” ability (where she effortlessly slides backwards while shooting forwards) on or off. By default, Samus shoots her currently-equipped shot with X, jumps with A (the button can be held for a longer and higher jump), dashes ahead by holding B, and can switch weapons with the ‘Select’ button. Items can be cancelled with Y (though I found no use for this) and Samus can aim diagonally up and down using the L and R triggers. I found the default controls a little clunky so I swapped the jump to B, the shot to Y, and the dash to A, and even then I sometimes still got a little confused about whether I was shooting or jumping and found it annoying that there wasn’t an easier way to cycle between Samus’s different ammo.

Explore and upgrade Samus’s arsenal and skills to reach new areas.

Samus is gifted with infinite ammo for her basic arm cannon; the player can hold down the fire button for a rapid shot, but this later gets swapped out for a charged attack. However, the player can further customise Samus from the pause menu; here, you can equip and unequip the various weapon and armour power-ups Samus obtains, though I preferred to keep them equipped at all times. Unlike the previous games, a small, grid-based map appears onscreen at all times which makes exploration so much easier this time around. Using the pause menu, you can view the full map and better figure out your route, though you’ll need to access map terminals to unlock each location’s map. Pressing down on the control stick or directional buttons will see Samus curl up into a Morph Ball when she acquires the relevant power-up; this allows her to squeeze through small gaps and access areas that aren’t readily apparently. It’s worth shooting, placing bombs, and jumping to find hidden areas and alternative routes, too; the game gets very big and complicated very quickly so any shortcuts or additional resources are always a welcome bonus. Planet Zebes is a veritable maze of doors that must be shot open; they’re colour-coded so you always know which weapon to switch to, but you’ll also be asked to perform a fair amount of horizontal and vertical jumping. While Samus’s later techniques help with this, her wall jumping ability is absolutely nerfed; rather than simply jumping at a wall and hitting jump again, you need to awkwardly hold back and press jump with frame-perfect timing to actually execute the move, which can be needlessly frustrating at times.

Although Samus controls well, her wall jumping and vertical abilities can be frustrating.

Similarly, Samus later acquires the Space Jump power-up; with perfect timing, this allows her to infinitely jump, cross wider gaps and reach higher areas, but the timing required is just too finnicky and random at times (it would’ve been so much easier to just keep hitting jump for a sustained effect). To make matters worse, enemies again respawn when you leave the screen; sometimes, smaller enemies will constantly spawn in certain screens, allowing you to “farm” health and ammo. You’ll also sometimes need to hop into the hands of a Chozo Statue while in your Morph Ball form to clear the path and you’ll find numerous helpful areas where you can catch your breath; save rooms, restore points to refill your health and ammo, and Chozo Statues gifting either new gear or upgrades to your existing equipment, total health, and total ammo. It’s well worth hunting these down as you’ll need your more powerful weapons to defeat the game’s bosses and more formidable enemies; both drop health and ammo when defeated but things are much easier if your maximum level is increased. Although well-equipped, Samus struggles against hazards like water, lava, acid and spike pits; suit upgrades allow her to negate some of these, and her Grapple Beam allows her to swing over hazards but, again, the timing required can be difficult to master. Super Metroid starts out fairly linear but you very quickly become restricted in where you can go, necessitating the acquisition of new power-ups; the more you obtain, the more you’ll need to remember cervices, destructible walls, and unreachable areas. You’ll be constantly backtracking, searching for new paths to the main four bosses, which may mean you’re over or under-equipped for certain encounters. Thankfully, the game is usually quite helpful and won’t leave you trapped in a room because you don’t have the High Jump Boots, but it can be a pain trying to figure out where you need to go and what you need to do.

Graphics and Sound:  
As a SEGA kid, I’ve long been envious of Super Metroid; for me, it’s one of the premier SNES titles and its visual appeal is a huge part of that. In fact, I admit that I was more excited to experience the game than I was to play it because of the difficulty involved in the constant exploration and the frustration of having to use a guide to find my way. Obviously, the game is a quantum leap ahead of its predecessors; Samus had never looked more colourful and lively before (and wouldn’t for many years aftwards), despite lacking much in the way of idle animations. She moves with a fluid grace that is both clunky when it needs to be and slick when she’s showing off her new abilities, spinning and curling and Moonwalking about as she blasts apart Space Pirates. The game’s story is told through text and simple to understand, cinematic cutscenes that utilise both the in-game graphics and a sprinkling of “Mode 7” for extra flair, with much of the ambiance and visual style influenced by the classic sci-fi action/horror Aliens (Cameron, 1986). Space colony Ceres and some levels of Zebes featured dead bodies scattered about, flickering lights at times, and rising bodies of water of varying danger, while the surface is rocked by a constant storm of acid rain not unlike the surface of LV-426.

The game is visually stunning, with a fantastic soundtrack and a strong aesthetic appeal.

While the game’s action is confined to Zebes, Super Metroid isn’t short on visual variety; this is used somewhat sparingly, and to great effect, so the rocky vegetation of Brinstar contrasts nicely with the sunken depths of Maridia and the lava-infested Norfair despite each location sharing similar layouts. Generally, Samus travels left to right from room to room but you’ll also be met by long vertical corridors and have to blast through the environment to progress. It’s not always clear which weapons or abilities you need to progress but there are some visual hints; blasting blocks or walls can reveal the symbol of certain weapons or arrows, indicating how to blow them open or to use your dash, or helpful little gremlins or dangerous digging machines can open new paths. Samus will discover a derelict ship that is plunged into darkness and lifeless until she restores the power; she can also break open glass tubes to further explore the depths of Maridia, blast and pass through certain blocks to drop into hidden areas, and even sink into sand to find new rooms. While there’s not always a lot happening onscreen, this allows each area to stand out all the more and the game to perform consistently, and each location expands and changes with your increased abilities, allowing you to make jumps you couldn’t before to navigate past hazards more effectively. The game also sounds fantastic; there’s a beautiful balance between silence, ominous ambient sounds, creepy tunes, and bolder, more blood-pumping music. Super Metroid ramps up the tension and adrenaline with its boss themes, especially when fighting Ridley and Draygon (who both sport Anguirus’ signature cry). Finally, the game is quite graphic at times; there’s the aforementioned dead bodies, Samus explodes in a similar fashion to Mega Man when killed, and Crocomire’s flesh melts from its bones upon being forced into a lava pit!

Enemies and Bosses:
Samus must blast her way through a slew of alien baddies to win the day, with many of them being variations of the standard, mantis-like Space Pirates. These insectoid aliens clamber on walls, march along the floor, and even hop overhead, firing jagged projectiles and often shielding themselves from your attacks with their claws, necessitating a weapon upgrade or a more convoluted attack pattern. Smaller enemies also pepper the game’s environments, ranging from wasp-like Zebbos, crab-like Scisers, and bat-like Skree, all of which are easy prey for you to farm some resources. Rippers can be temporarily frozen to act as platforms, Kilhunters will buzz about on their insectile wings, spiked Geemers slither about on small platforms, clunky Workrobots stamp about shrugging off your beams, and Evirs emerge from acid to fire projectiles at you. Enemies like the Beetoms and Metroids are a real headache as they can shrug off your regular shot and will latch onto you to drain your health, while Namihes and Funes spit fireballs from walls and guys like the Alcoon and Oum tend to burst out of nowhere for a surprise attack!

Samus faces some mammoth, formidable bosses, including long-standing nemesis Ridley.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, there are eleven bosses to battle here, with a couple being very similar battles fought in different circumstances. You’ll encounter Samus’s archenemy, Ridley, early on; confined to an enclosed arena, Ridley will swoop at you, spit fireballs, and swipe with his Xenomorph Queen-like tail, but you don’t actually need to defeat him here, just survive until he flies off with the Metroid larva. Ridley, returns, far more formidable, as the penultimate boss; this time, you’re confined to a small platform with health-sapping lava underneath and Ridley hides high above, swooping in to grab and squeeze the life out of you. He also breathes fire and becomes extremely aggressive as the fight goes on, though he is vulnerable to all of your weapons, with the charged Plasma Beam and Super Missiles being the most effective, but he’s certainly no pushover even with all your upgrades. Similarly, you’ll battle two malevolent Torizo Statues, one just after acquiring the Morph Bomb and one later on. You’ll need to make use of the Morph Ball in the first encounter to dodge its projectiles; both stomp about to smash into you and swipe with their claws, but the golden one will sidestep missiles and catch and toss your own Super Missiles back at you and was, honestly, one of the toughest bosses in the game for me! Another early boss encounter is against the Spore Spawn, a gigantic, genetically-engineered plant that bobs about, launching itself at Samus and causing small spores to rain across the screen. These can be blasted for ammo and health, which you’ll need as this alien plant can only be defeated by shooting its central core, which only opens up for a brief window. Defeating it earns Samus the Super Missile power-up and sees the environment wither and decay.

The game’s bosses are monstrous and require a bit of strategy on your part to best.

The first major boss of the game is against Kraid, now much bigger and even more imposing than before (though a smaller version is again encountered beforehand). Now taking up a good chunk of the screen, with the bottom littered with spikes, Kraid lunges at you, spits rocks, and causes boulders to rain from above. Kraid’s only weak spot is his eyes and, when you’ve dished out enough damage, he raises up and you need to make use of small platforms to avoid his projectiles and fire at his head whenever he roars. In the lava-soaked depths of Norfair, you’ll battle the all-but-invincible Crocomire; immune to all of your attacks, you need to force Crocomire   into a lava pit before it skewers you on a wall of spikes! Watch for its projectiles and its skeletal remains, which will burst through said wall in a last gasp attack! Whilst exploring the wrecked ship, you’ll be attacked by ghost-like aliens and eventually face off against their master, Phantoon, a giant, squid-like alien wraith that hovers around the room dropping blue flames, though you can dispense them with your shot to grab some resources. This guy also disappears and reappears about the arena and can only be damaged by shooting at its single, ugly eye, though neither it nor the worm-like Botwoon should cause you too much trouble if you keep your beam charged and have plenty of missiles on hand.

After besting her minions, Samus must do battle with the fearsome Mother Brain!

The same can’t be said of Draygon, which acts as something of a teaser for the later Ridley fight. Draygon will swoop down and grab you, slamming you against the wall if you’re not careful, requiring a unique strategy beyond just dodging and shooting. If you let it grab you, you can shoot your Grapple Beam at an electrified wall panel; you’ll take damage, but you’ll also toast Draygon in the process, leaving her insectoid children to mourn her corpse. I wouldn’t underestimate the Silver Space Pirates, either; this duo is fought in Ridley’s lair and are only vulnerable when they flash gold, making them an exercise in frustration as they flip and slice and kick to whittle you down. Once you’ve defeated the main bosses, you’ll be able to access Tourian, a metallic landscape where Metroids wander freely. Here, you’ll encounter the titular Super Metroid, which proves invulnerable and will drain your health to almost nothing before fleeing. Eventually, you’ll battle Mother Brain once more; like before, this massive brain sits in a jar and is protected by laser walls, a constant spread of projectiles, and a lava floor. Once you shatter her protective casing, she rears up into this monstrous bipedal monstrosity that stomps about in a claustrophobic area, spitting explosive breath and blasting you with laser beams from her eyes! When you deal enough damage, she’ll decimate you with an unavoidable rainbow laser; luckily the Super Metroid comes to your aid, sacrificing itself to restore your health and gift the Hyper Beam, which cuts down Mother Brain. Once she’s defeated, the whole planet crumbles around you and you have three minutes to escape to the surface, whereupon you’ll be granted a special image of Samus depending on how well you played.

Power-Ups and Bonuses:
Samus starts with ninety-nine units of energy and her regular arm cannon but it’s not long before you’re increasing her exploration abilities with the Morph Ball and upping her arsenal with the missile and Super Missile, which both deal far greater damage than her regular shot, and increasing her maximum energy with the fourteen Energy Tanks. You can also find four Reserve Tanks to have some health restored after death, can use the X-Ray Scope to search for these, and hidden paths, in the environment, and grab the Speed Booster to run through walls and enemies alike and the Grapple Beam to latch on to overhead blocks and certain walls (if you can get to grips with the controls). In addition to finding numerous energy recharge stations, you can also fully refill your ammo at similar stations, usually located near a save room, and you’ll find loads of power-ups to increase your maximum ammo for each bomb. Samus can also upgrade her suit to allow her to freely move underwater, increase her defence, and allow her to resist certain types of lava, all of which is essentially for exploring the entirety of Zebes, Samus’s main cannon can also be upgraded to allow her to charge a more powerful attack that’s great for inflicting big damage against bosses, temporarily freezes enemies to create extra platforms, and allows her to fire three beams at once that go through walls and enemies alike. You’ll also acquire the ability to drop balls when morphed (clearing obstructions in tighter spaces and boosting you over small ledges), a screen clearing Power Bomb, and the Spring Ball that lets you jump while morphed. The High Jump boots increase your jump height, the aforementioned Space Jump allows you to clunkily continuously jump, and the Screw Attack adds an electrical crackle to your jump spin to damage enemies.

Additional Features:
Upon finishing Super Metroid, you’re given a percentage showing how many of the game’s secrets you found. You can freely load up your save file to backtrack and hunt down anything you missed if you like, but the game’s endings are based on how much time you took not how much you found. You’ll only get to see Samus in her skin-tight under garments if you beat the game in under three hours; playing between three and ten will see her remove her helmet, and playing for more than ten hours sees her preserve her modesty behind her suit and you settling for a thumbs-up. In the final escape sequence, you apparently have the option of saving the trapped Dachoras and Etecoons, though I didn’t notice them in my playthrough and it appears to add nothing to the ending but personal pride. This version of the game naturally allows you to create a save state at any time and make use of the Nintendo Switch’s rewind function, which is perfect for the game’s many aggravating sections, and you can also take advantage of a special save state version of the game that lets you skip right to the end with all of Samus’s upgrades.

The Summary:
Of all the Metroid games I’ve played, I’ve played Super Metroid the most but I never managed to finish it before this playthrough. The game is absolutely gorgeous, with a visual appeal that’s matched by its soundtrack and massive, action-packed bosses and the appeal of its main character. However, the large-scale nature of the game and the copious backtracking were always intimidating for me as I really didn’t want to have to keep referring to a guide; luckily, I was able to get through Super Metroid without too much help in this regard, but it can be frustrating when you seem to have exhausted all your options only to have missed a destructible block tucked away. While Super Metroid is impressively put together, with some fantastic detail, variety, and challenge on offer, playing the game from start to finish has made me see flaws in the game’s controls; wall jumping is absolutely atrocious and techniques like the Space Jump are needlessly finicky, ruining a lot of the platforming sections and making me wonder how anyone ever managed to succeed at the game without the aid of save states. The bosses are equally challenging, even when Samus is fully armed and powered up, making for a tough but ultimately very rewarding gameplay experience. Had these control issues been tweaked to be simple button presses, it would’ve been a perfect five out of five but Super Metroid is still one of the quintessential SNES titles and is well worth investing your time and patience.

My Rating:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Great Stuff

Did you enjoy Super Metroid? Would you agree that it’s one of the titles that defined the SNES era of gaming? Did you struggle with the controls at all and what did you think to the large, inter-connected game world? Which of the bosses and upgrades was your favourite? What did you think to the graphical upgrade and the level of detail on offer? Which Metroid game is your favourite? Whatever your thoughts, feel free to leave a comment below or on my social media, and be sure to check out my other sci-fi content across the site.

Mini Game Corner [Sci-Fanuary]: Judge Dredd (Mega Drive)

Dr. K1 Comment

January sees the celebration of two notable dates in science-fiction history, with January 2 christened “National Science Fiction Day” to coincide with the birth date of the world renowned sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov, and HAL 9000, the sophisticated artificial intelligence of Arthur C. Clarke’s seminal 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), being created on 12 January. This year, however, I’ve been spending every Thursday of January celebrating sci-fi’s toughest lawman, Judge Joseph Dredd!

Released: 16 June 1995
Developer: Probe Software
Also Available For: Game Boy, Game Gear, PC/MS-DOS, and Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)

A Brief Background:
Still published to this day, British science-fiction comic book 2000 AD first appeared in February 1977 and, in March of that same year, introduced readers to the uncompromising lawman of the future, Judge Joseph Dredd. Created of John Wagner, Carlos Ezquerra, and Pat Mills, Dredd became one of the most popular and iconic British comic book characters of all time. Accordingly, the character has expanded beyond the comic book panels and into the realms of videogames on more than on occasion; his first videogame outing was a largely repetitive platform shooter, a concept expanded upon by its bigger, more graphically impressive Amiga follow-up. Dredd’s relationship with videogames is largely considered to be hit and miss but, when the time finally came for the character to make the jump to the silver screen, an adaptation was put into development. While the movie would become a notorious box office bomb, developers Probe Software sought to be as faithful to the production as possible by digitising the film sets to be featured as locations in the game, however their efforts resulted in mixed-to-negative reviews across the board. While some reviews praised the gameplay and fidelity to the source material, others criticised the difficulty and lack of variety, and the game failed to make a lasting impression regardless of which system it was played.

First Impressions:
Judge Dredd is a 2D, sidescrolling run-and-gun that, for the most part, emulates the plot and visual aesthetic of the bombastic movie. Players assume the role of Judge Dredd (whose sprite more resembles his comic book counterpart than Sylvester Stallone’s look from the film) and play through twelve stages taking out street punks, mutants, and even Dredd’s fellow Judges just like in the movie. Players are given three lives to start with and can collect more by picking up extra life icons, and each stage has a primary a secondary objective, both of which are relayed to the player using sprite art modelled from scenes of the film and traditional text. Primary objectives range from destroying ammo supplies, locating Dredd’s mentor, Judge Fargo, reaching the council in the Hall of Justice, and defeating specific enemies. Secondary objectives appear to be option, but you must complete the primary objective in order to exit the current stage, something which can prove problematic given how maze-like and strangely designed many of the game’s stages are.

Though often cluttered, the game certainly makes an effort to marry the visuals of the film and comic book.

Judge Dredd is armed with his trust Lawgiver; tapping or holding the A button will see Dredd fire a variety of shots, from unlimited regular bullets to heat-seekers, grenades, and missiles, and you can even hold down the button to fire uninterrupted. Dredd can also sprint by tapping the directional pad (D-pad), and shoot while running, jumping, and crouching, and in all directions (including diagonally!) Although some objectives tell you not to shoot certain enemies, you’re free to be as trigger happy as you like; however, you’ll score more points if you use Dredd’s melee skills (A up close or X if you have a six-button controller) to disarm and arrest perps when “GUILTY” appears over their head. Dredd can jump with B and even fly about for a few seconds if you find an Anti-Grav Belt; you’ll be doing a fair amount of platforming but Dredd can’t jump very high so you’ll often need to make use of ladders, monkey along overhead lines, or even a running jump to reach new areas. Dredd can also crawl about, push some objects, and access terminals to see his current mission progression and health and ammo stats or lock doors in certain stages. Dredd controls quite well but is a bit clunky; pressing up will scroll the screen, which can be disorientating, and there’s a few too many frames of animation at times, meaning there is often a delay between button presses. Dredd is quite sturdy but can replenish his health with small and large hearts, pick up additional ammo, or even grab a temporary forcefield and invincibility to help even the odds.

There’s some variety on display in the different Dredd’s objectives and gameplay mechanics.

After completing each stage, you’re given a score tally and a password to help you skip ahead; while there don’t appear to be any useful passwords for this version of the game, such as infinite health or ammo, it is a handy feature to pick up where you left off or try out different missions. In my case, this is almost mandatory; it took quit a bit of trial and error to complete even the first stage as you can get stuck in an area with no way back. While Dredd will nip up on the spot after being killed, it’s quite easy to get stuck as ladders and hazards aren’t always immediately visible, and while you can duck and shoot most enemies, you’ll be majorly outclassed by the wild mutants in the Cursed Earth and the Atomic, Bacterial, and Chemical Warriors (A.B.C. Warriors) you’re tasked with destroying later on. The game certainly looks good; sprites are a bit small but Dredd has some fun idle animations, such as twirling his gun and cleaning his badge (there’s even a little squeak-squeak sound effect), and there’s some splashes of blood when you off enemies. The environments are visually very faithful to the movie, including trucks, futuristic skyscrapers, and the Statue of Liberty as in the film, but can be cluttered and a little too large for their own good. Gameplay is somewhat broken up by one stage that has you flying through the skies on your Lawmaster while fending off pursuing Judges (Herman Fergusson/Fergee fires at the rear while Dredd fires ahead) and by the fact that some enemies will be possessed by the four Dark Judges; you’ll know when they are as they’ll have an aura about them and a spirit will fly out that you can catch for bonus points if you have some Boing ammo.

My Progression:
Judge Dredd is a surprisingly tough game; at first, it reminded me of classic run-and-guns like Turrican (Factor 5, et al, 1990) or Duke Nukem (Apogee Software, 1991), especially with the placement of the heads-up display and dystopian, sci-fi setting. Seconds into the first stage, I hit a literal wall and had to think for a minute as the ladder I needed was so difficult to see and things only got more confusing from there; vents randomly damage you, trash falls from above, and you can’t even step in a small puddle of water in the Cursed Earth without taking damage. Just destroying the ammo crates in the first stage is a chore as they can only be destroyed by your explosive weapons and you need to explore the stage in a specific way so you don’t miss any and get stuck. Rather than running past terminals in Aspen, you need to access them to initiate the lockdown procedure, and enemies can take a few shots before they go down even before the clunky A.B.C. Warriors enter the picture. It appears that most stages end with a boss battle, too; the first is a guy who looked a lot like DC Comic’s James Harper/Guardian and who constantly blocks your shots with his shield while firing at you with a machine gun, tossing Molotov Cocktails, launching an almost unavoidable energy wave, or bashing your head in when you get close. You can use nearby barrels for cover but he absorbs shots like a sponge and the timing required to jump and duck under his shots meant that I couldn’t actually beat him!

Sadly, the game’s difficulty meant I couldn’t get very far and I wasn’t motivated to skip ahead much further.

Using a password, I jumped to stage two and fared much better n the Aspen Penal Colony. There’s some neat effects on the waters of the sewer area and I was actually able to beat the stage the boss, a brute with a big club who rides an elevator that he tries to crush you with, tosses grenades and Molotov cocktails, and smacks you silly up close. It was a slog, but I did beat him, but I couldn’t get past the Cursed Earth for the life of me. Here, the mutated inhabitants live in the ruins of society and Judge Hunters patrol the wooden walkways, but the leaps of faith and confusing level layout got the better of me. I skipped ahead to the Hall of Justice and that wasn’t a problem, nor was the chase on the Lawmaster, but the A.B.C. Warriors stomping about on the construction site around the Statue of Liberty were enough to have me calling it quits. They’re immune to your regular shot, so you’ll need a healthy supply of missiles or other explosives, but their missiles and the stage’s bottomless pits were the last straw for me. it was a bit of a shame as the game’s layout and objectives actually got easier the deeper I got and, from what I can see, there’s a bit of a post-game that looks right up my alley. After dealing with Dredd’s psycho clone brother, Rico, players head to Deadworld, an alternative dimension where all life was deemed a crime, to do battle with Dredd’s reaper-like spectral counterpart, Judge Death! I could’ve used passwords to jump ahead to this point but I decided that enough was enough, but I am impressed that a videogame adaptation from this time actually expanded on the film; the game does a decent job of following the movie’s narrative but infuses it with more elements from the source material, including my favourite Dredd antagonists, the Dark Judges, which is pretty rare for a game of this era in my experience.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from Judge Dredd; videogame adaptations of movies tended to be more hit than miss back in the 16-bit games, at least in my experience, but sadly there were some issues here that kept me from really enjoying the experience. Visually, the game is both impressive, bland, and confusing all at the same time; the horizon and backgrounds aren’t always very detailed but the foregrounds are almost too detailed, making things a bit cluttered and messy at times. Dredd looks great and plays okay, but I find it amusing that the developers included the ability to arrest people when Dredd is far more likely to just sentence criminals to death for even more infractions. Since the game doesn’t really penalise you if you kill everyone, I recommend taking a traditional run-and-gun approach, especially as you’ll be distracted by vague objectives and the maze-like areas. Overall, it was a mediocre experience, one that I struggled to get through thanks to the difficulty spike and clunky presentation. It’s a shame as I feel the concept could have legs if it was more like Contra (Konami, 1986) or Metal Slug (Nazca Corporation, 1996) and leaned more into arcade-style action rather than tedious exploration. Still, maybe I’m being too harsh? Maybe you actually enjoyed the gameplay on offer here? Perhaps you prefer one of the movie’s other ports or a different Judge Dredd game entirely? Either way, I’d love to hear about it so leave a comment below or on my social media and be sure to check out my other Judge Dredd content.

Game Corner [Sci-Fanuary]: Metroid II: Return of Samus (Nintendo Switch)

Dr. K6 Comments

January sees the celebration of two notable dates in science-fiction history, with January 2 christened “National Science Fiction Day” to coincide with the birth date of the world renowned sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov, and HAL 9000, the sophisticated artificial intelligence of Arthur C. Clarke’s seminal 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), being created on 12 January.

Released: February 2023
Originally Released: November 1991
Developer: Nintendo
Original Developer: Nintendo R&D1 Intelligent Systems
Also Available For: Game Boy, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo Wii U

The Background:
Brain-blasting bounty hunter Samus Aran shocked the gaming world when she was revealed to be a woman in the challenging Nintendo classic, Metroid (Nintendo R&D1 Intelligent Systems, 1986). Although highly praised and crucial to the popularisation of the “Metroidvania” sub-genre, Metroid’s sequel came not on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) like Nintendo’s other franchise characters, but on their revolutionary (and incredibly popular) handheld system, the Game Boy. Many of Metroid’s developers returned for the sequel, which separated itself from other Game Boy titles with graphics comparable to its 8-bit counterparts and expanding upon Samus’s abilities and narrative in ways that would influence future games. Not only was Metroid II my first experience of the franchise, but it also included a unique palette for when played on the Game Boy Color, though it largely divided critics upon release. Reviews praised the quality of life improvements and expansion upon the gameplay of its predecessor, while also criticising the music and limitations of the Game Boy hardware. Yet, Metroid II endured; a fangame remake was scuppered by Nintendo prior to them remaking the game for the Nintendo 3DS in 2017, with Metroid: Samus Returns (MercurySteam, Nintendo EPD) being largely well received. The original version of the game also found a home on Nintendo’s online services, including this Nintendo Switch Online version, to help keep this cult classic alive for new gamers.

The Plot:
Following her encounter with the Metroids, bounty hunter Samus Aran is sent to the Metroid home world, SR388, to destroy the entire species.

Gameplay:
Metroid II: Return of Samus is a run-and-gun adventure game with an emphasis on exploring the various alien landscapes of SR388, upgrading Samus’s suit and abilities, and hunting down forty Metroid variants to curb the malicious species. Players once again assume the role of the intergalactic bounty hunter Samus Aran, who sports the same abilities from the first game and more, most notably the ability to shoot upwards and while crouching, simple additions that make blasting aliens and destructible blocks so much easier. You’re given three save files to play with, which can be switched to or deleted from the main menu, though there are no options to reconfigure any game settings, like the controls or difficulty. However, since it was originally a Game Boy title, you’ll only make use of two buttons during gameplay: A lets you jump (and you can hold it to jump a little higher) and B lets you shoot (and you can hold it to continually fire at foes). Samus will compress into a spherical Morph Ball if you press down on the directional pad twice, and you can switch from her infinite gun arm to her finite supply of missiles by pressing the – button. The + button pauses the game, but you again won’t find a map screen, here, meaning exploration is still a chore, despite Metroid II being a slightly more forgiving and straightforward title.

Run, shoot, and roll your way through a confusing alien world hunting Metroids.

Unlike in the last game, players can make use of save stations to save their progress and sporadic refill pods for their health and ammunition, reducing how often you’ll blast away at enemies to farm for resources. As before, enemies will respawn whenever you enter an area, though this time around to you must alter the environment, clearing lava and other hazards so you can progress further. Puzzle solving isn’t really a thing in Metroid II; the closest you get are blasting certain doors with your missiles to open them and navigating deep chasms, some of which are somewhat maze-like and have hidden holes that drop you to lower levels, though you’ll sometimes have to use Samus’s Bomb power-up to blast away boulders. This game debuts the Spider Ball, which allows Samus to slowly crawl up walls and ceilings, and you’ll be using this a lot to scale cliffs and ruins, especially as the game progresses. However, your primary objective is to hunt down the forty Metroid variants hidden around SR388; you can keep track of how many remain using the game’s limited heads-up display, but you won’t be given any hints or direction about where to find them beyond hitting dead ends until you’ve acquired new power-ups. Occasionally, Samus will dive into water or must traverse sticky goop; spikes and lava pits are commonplace, as are destructible elements like weeds and sandstone, and you’ll also have to navigate a pitch-black area later in the game that’s incredibly frustrating as there’s no way to light your path. Mostly, though, you’ll be exploring long corridors, deep shafts, and crawling up walls and through narrow tunnels, blasting enemies and hoping the path leads to an upgrade or another Metroid.

Graphics and Sound:
Releasing a couple of years after the debut of the Game Boy, Metroid II is quite a bland looking game, especially as far as the backgrounds are concerned. Backgrounds are largely completely blank, either white, black, or that weird green colour the Game Boy favoured, with very little in the way of foreground details, for the most part. Some areas are the exception to this rule, of course, with an abundance of overgrown stone ruins, rocky caves, and biomechanical areas peppered throughout the game so you know when you’ve transitioned from what could loosely be called the overworld to an area of some significance. Many areas contain lethal lava, dank water, or gloopy muck that restricts your movements but are largely indistinguishable from each other; sometimes the rocks look more like peanuts, sometimes they’re metallic, and sometimes they’re almost like bubbles, but the game becomes disappointingly and confusingly uniform very quickly. Caverns, ruins, and mechanical trappings signpost areas containing Metroids and power-ups, but it’s easy to think you’ve accidentally backtracked as SR388 isn’t exactly divided into elemental sections. Having the overworld be rocky and the main sections be distinctly water-, metal-, botanical-, or lava-themed would’ve helped to distinguish them but, as is, there’s only a handful of areas that impress when it comes to their aesthetics. While this is commonplace on the Game Boy, it’s not as if there weren’t games that were able to do a little more with the hardware, so it’s pretty disappointing here, especially as the game lacks a map.

As impressive as many of the sprites are, the backgrounds, locations, and music suffer.

On the plus side, Samus looks great, far better than she did on the NES and showcasing a surprising level of detail. While she doesn’t have any idle poses, her suit changes to reflect her upgrades and she has more poses to assume thanks to her expanded moveset. In addition to her iconic ship sat in the opening section, you’ll always know when a Metroid is nearby by the presence of a hatched Metroid egg, there are a couple of cutscenes showing the Metroids evolving into new, more powerful forms, the Chozo Statues are nice and big (with one even being destroyed), and there are usually some fun hidden paths to take towards goodies. Sadly, the music isn’t all that impressive, aiming for claustrophobic and ominous but being limited by the Game Boy hardware. However, the biggest disappointment for me was the complete lack of any story; there’s no story text, the title screen is incredibly bland, there’s no introductory cutscene, and the game just…ends, albeit with an impressive large sprite of Samus running alongside the credits that changes depending on how fast you beat the game.

Enemies and Bosses:
In addition to the indigenous Metroid population, SR388 is home to a whole host of alien lifeforms, from bug-like creatures to robotic forces and defences that I have assume were left behind by the Space Pirates. All of these will respawn after you exit an area and, while most can be defeated in one or two shots, others will be almost invulnerable until you acquire new power-ups or continually spawn and chase after you to bash you into spikes or lava. We’ve got floating slug-like enemies, laser turrets, hopping toad-like creatures, tiny bugs that drop from ceilings, weird flying proboscis-type things that drop you towards hazards, bat-like drones, and slug-like fish that slither around platforms. Speaking of which, the bone-armoured Motos resist your blaster and can only be taken out from behind or with the Screw Attack (though they often drop larger health orbs); they’re often found alongside Ramulken, who are similarly armoured but jump about the place, though most enemies can simply be blasted or outright avoided, especially if you’re close to a health point. The only boss-type enemy you’ll encounter that isn’t a Metroid variant is the armadillo-like Arachnus, which disguises itself as a Chozo Sphere and not only spits projectiles at you but completely resists your attacks when rolled up. However, it’s vulnerable to your bombs, so you can lay a bunch of those to take it out and pry the Spring Ball from its remains.

You’ll need plenty of missiles (and patience) to snuff out the various monstrous Metroids.

As in many Metroid games, the titular, jellyfish-like aliens will appear near the end of the game, latching onto you and draining your health and only being vulnerable when frozen by the Ice Beam and peppered with missiles. The forty other Metroids you battle in several mini boss encounters are evolved Metroids that take on an insectile, ant- or wasp-like form that allows them to fly. The most common of these are the “Alpha” variant, which are largely harmless and simply float about the place, meaning the “Gamma” variant is quite the sharp difficulty curve with its more monstrous appearance and lightning bolt appendages. They’re a joy compared to the “Zeta” Metroids, though, which frustratingly badger you from behind, spit fireballs, and can only be damaged when blasted in the face with missiles. Similarly, while the “Omega” Metroids are far slower, they spit electrical sparks that produce splash damage and float about the place, making them a difficult target despite their size. Each of these may also be fought in enclosed arenas, above spikes or lava, within sandstone, or in areas with small platforms or blocks to make avoiding damage even more troublesome. Once you’ve destroyed thirty-nine of them, nine more regular Metroids need to be dispatched before you face off with their monstrous, dragon-like queen. While technically a simple battle, requiring only that you use the Screw Attack to escape damage and blast the queen with missiles (you can even Morph Ball to safety to refill your health and ammo using a convenient tunnel), this is a laborious and dull fight thanks to the restricted area, the aggressiveness of the queen, and the fact that you need to hit her with 100 missiles! Apparently, there’s a way to Morph Ball into her mouth and lay a bunch of bombs in her, but I couldn’t manage that so it was a lot of tedious evading, blasting (missing), and rewinding when I took too much damage.

Power-Ups and Bonuses:
As ever, enemies will drop health orbs and missiles to refuel you but, this time around, you can also find larger, dedicated, and inexhaustible refuel stations to top these up in a pinch, and they’re not always hidden away either. Similarly, you can find Energy and Missile Tanks to expand your health bar and maximum ammo (though these are often hidden away or at the end of winding tunnels). As is often (if not always) the case, Samus mysteriously loses all the upgrades she got in the last game and needs to reacquire them from Chozo Statues hidden throughout SR388. You can upgrade her arm cannon to the Wave Beam (which increases accuracy), the Ice Beam (which temporarily freezes enemies), the Spazer Laser Beam (which fires a triple shot), and the Plasma Beam (the most powerful, which passes through objects and enemies), and will even get the chance to switch back to them at one point (with the Ice Beam being required for the final section). Samus’s jump can be extended with the High Jump Boots before allowing her to reach higher, further areas (through carefully timed taps of A) with the Space Jump, before becoming an offensive move with the iconic Screw Attack. Her Morph Ball can also be upgraded to drop bombs, bounce, and cling to walls, which, while slow, is basically a requirement in some areas.

Additional Features:
Sadly, there’s not much to Metroid II. Like I said, there are Energy and Missile Tanks to find that you could conceivably miss but that’s about it. The only reason you’d replay the game beyond enjoying wandering around a confusing handheld landscape is to try and beat the game in under three hours so you’ll be treated to seeing Samus in a bikini; otherwise, there are no bonus or extra features to speak of here. As ever, you can make liberal use of the Nintendo Switch’s rewind and save state features to make the game a lot easier, though it’s still a challenge at times.

The Summary:
I’m glad I finally played through Metroid II: Return of Samus; when I was a kid, I had the original cartridge for my Game Boy, but I remember getting stuck fairly soon into the game. Low and behold, I hit the same dead end here and quickly became reliant upon an online guide, which is not my preferred way of playing any game. Sadly, it’s basically required here as there’s no map system, which is weird as I definitely think a rudimentary map could’ve been inserted whenever you pause the game. Ultimately, this was a tough one for me; I liked how much the gameplay mechanics of the original were improved, even if only in basic ways, but I don’t think this kind of game works on the Game Boy; Metroid is all about exploration and backtracking and, while Metroid II is a bit more linear than others in the series, it still requires more than the Game Boy is capable of delivering. Yes, the sprite work looks good, but every area is too constricted and repetitive to stand out like they would on even the NES and it gets a bit boring facing the same batch of Metroids over and over again. There is a lot to like here, with some fun encounters and areas and the thrill of upgrading Samus’s suit and abilities, but I think Metroid II was trying to be a little too ambitious for the Game Boy. I’m tempted to see what the Nintendo 3DS remake is like to compare it but, sadly, it’s ridiculously expensive to get hold off so I’m left with this paradoxically technically impressive and technically limited entry in the series that felt too much like a chore to play through for mee to properly enjoy.

My Rating:

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Could Be Better

Are you a fan of Metroid II: Return of Samus? Did you own it on the Game Boy and, if so, how did you cope without a guide or the rewind features? Were you impressed with Samus’s new abilities and combat options? What did you think to the more linear mission and Metroid-hunting gameplay? If you’ve played the Nintendo 3DS remake, how does it compare to the original? Which Metroid game is your favourite? Whatever your thoughts, feel free to leave a comment below or on my social media, and be sure to check out my other Metroid reviews.

Movie Night [Sci-Fanuary]: Judge Dredd

Dr. K3 Comments

January sees the celebration of two notable dates in science-fiction history, with January 2 christened “National Science Fiction Day” to coincide with the birth date of the world renowned sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov, and HAL 9000, the sophisticated artificial intelligence of Arthur C. Clarke’s seminal 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), being created on 12 January. This year, however, I’m spending every Thursday of January celebrating sci-fi’s toughest lawman, Judge Joseph Dredd!

Released: 30 June 1995
Director: Danny Cannon
Distributor: Buena Vista Pictures / Cinergi Productions
Budget: $85 to 90 million
Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Armand Assante, Diane Lane, Rob Schneider, Jürgen Prochnow, and Max von Sydow

The Plot:
In the year 2080, the world has become a scorched wasteland and the Judges enforce martial law in the overpopulated Mega-Cities and Mega-City One’s most efficient and decorated officer, Judge Joseph Dredd (Stallone), is framed for murder by his own half-brother, the psychotic Rico (Asante), who plots to usurp the oppressive regime with an army of superhuman clones. 

The Background:
It was thanks to British science-fiction comic book 2000 AD and the work of John Wagner, Carlos Ezquerra, and Pat Mills that readers were introduced to Judge Joseph Dredd in March 1977, a tough-as-nails lawman known for his extreme political satire. Dredd’s subsequent popularity meant that Hollywood soon came calling, and long-time fan Danny Cannon pursued the project with a passion, even turning down the chance to helm Die Hard with a Vengeance (McTiernan, 1995) in favour of this adaptation. Although development stalled somewhat thanks to the similarly-themed action/sci-fi satire RoboCop (Verhoeven, 1987), production soon got underway once Sylvester Stallone was cast in the title role, beating out his action movie rival Arnold Schwarzenegger despite being unfamiliar with the character. The filmmakers looked to Blade Runner (Scott, 19982), to bring the sprawling Mega-City One to life and rejected designs from famed fashion mogul Gianni Versace for the film’s costumes. Initially shot to be an R-rated feature with a darker, satirical bent, Cannon clashed with Stallone over the direction of the film and was left so disappointed with the star’s insistence towards comedy that he vowed never to work with the Italian Stallion again. This was largely reflected in subsequent reviews, which criticised the film’s confused tone and disappointing production. While the visual appeal of the film has been praised, Stallone’s performance was not; the tie-in videogame was also a disappointment and a box office gross of under $115 million made the film a commercial flop. Both Stallone and Dredd co-creator John Wagner expressed disappointment with the film and it would take nearly twenty years for the character to return to cinema screens.

The Review:
As I mentioned in my review of Judge Dredd’s debut story, I’ve been a big fan of the character since I was a teenager, largely because of my dad. I was always ore drawn towards Dredd’s clashes against the Dark Judges and his more momentous storylines, such as “The Cursed Earth” (Mills, et al, 1978), “The Day the Law Died” (Wagner, et al,1978 to 1979), and “The Judge Child” (ibid, 1980), which is fitting since Judge Dredd draws several influences from these stories for its core narrative. I was just the right age for Judge Dredd; while I was regularly enjoying violent sci-fi romps like RoboCop, I also enjoyed colourful, action-packed sci-fi comedies like Demolition Man (Marco Brambilla, 1993), so my expectations for the film were simply to enjoy seeing a stern lawman of the future kicking ass in a visually entertaining environment. This means I have a certain level of nostalgia for the film; it was, after all, the only live-action Judge Dredd movie available for decades and it’s not as if the character had a more violent animated series to fall back on. At the time, if you wanted Judge Dredd, it was either this, the comics, or a handful of videogames, but that doesn’t mean that my opinion of the film hasn’t changed as I’ve gotten older and come to appreciate the subtle dark comedy and violent nature of the source material. It’s a shame as well since Judge Dredd gets off to a good start (it’s always a plus when James Earl Jones provides an opening narration) and has more positives in it than a lot of people like to acknowledge, but it fumbles on some of the most basic characterisations of its title character in order to appeal to a wider, more mainstream audience.

Hard-nosed Dredd is framed for murder and forced to confront his psychotic brother.

Don’t get me wrong, I totally understand this. R-rated movies like RoboCop might kick all the ass but they’re a bit of a risk for producers and investors, especially when it comes to comic book properties and especially back in 1993, when many superheroes where being bastardised commercialised for maximum profit. Thus, Judge Dredd, the straight-laced, grim-faced, by-the-book lawman of the future who is just as likely to prosecute innocent bystanders to nail a perp, is transformed from a tough, no-nonsense future cop into a more heroic figure over the course of the movie. Dredd starts out as a pragmatic and uncompromising officer; he shows no fear, even when outnumbered and outgunned, and has not hesitation in gunning down criminals to quell a riot. Similarly, he doesn’t hesitate to slap former convicted hacker Herman “Fergee” Ferguson (Schneider) with the maximum prison sentence simply for trying to save himself from being caught in the crossfire. Dredd’s rigid enforcement of the law has earned him quite the reputation; ordinary street punks fear him, and rightfully so, and his lack of humanity and propensity to favour summary execution draw criticism from fellow Judge Barbara Hershey (Lane) and Dredd’s mentor and father figure, Chief Justice Eustace Fargo (von Sydow), who orders him to spend time at the academy training the future generation of Judges not in combat but in the enforcement of ethics in an attempt to inject some humanity and compassion into Dredd’s approach. Although Dredd is clearly unhappy with this assignment, he follows his orders because he has such respect for his mentor and he truly believes in the world of the law, following the literal book to the letter and committing his very life and soul to upholding its ideals, even at the expense of his emotions and empathy.

Whether through compassion or “humour”, both Hershey and Fergie help to humanise Dredd.

Dredd’s cold demeanour is contrasted by Hershey, the closest thing he has to a friend. Although Dredd has respect for all of his peers, he openly acknowledges that Hershey is “one of the smartest of the new breed” and turns to her to defend him when he’s accused of murder out of respect for her capabilities. Unlike Dredd, Hershey is far more empathetic; she chastises herself when her rookie Judge is murdered on her watch and openly disagrees with Dredd’s philosophy that Dredd’s must commit their lives to the law until they either die on the streets of venture out into the Cursed earth for “retirement”. Indeed, she’s perfectly happy to openly criticise him for being too harsh and lacking in humanity and is both hut and betrayed when the evidence condemns him as a traitor. Moved by the emotional depths Dredd displays after learning of his true origins, she agrees to help him track down Rico both out of a genuine loyalty and affection for him and to avenge the losses her and her fellow Judges have suffered at Rico’s hands. Much of Judge Dredd comedy is focused on Dredd’s stoic demeanour and the awkwardness of him relying on others after he’s betrayed by the very system he dedicated his life to. Have no fear, though, as Fergie is here to act as the comic relief of the film and boy, does it start to grate very quickly. Unlike his simple-minded comic book counterpart, Fergie is a former hacker who, after serving his sentence, finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. Naturally, he objects to Dredd’s harsh sentencing and cannot help but laugh at the irony of the grim Judge being convicted for a crime he didn’t commit, but Fergie has no choice but to rely on Dredd when they crash in the Cursed Earth and end up in the clutches of the notorious Angel Gang. From there, Fergie acts as Dredd’s bungling sidekick; a dead weight he’s forced to lug around. Indeed, Fergie’s hacking talents really have no relevance until the last act; Dredd has Hershey and tech-savvy cadet Nathan Olmeyer (Balthazar Getty) to offer more practical help, so Fergie is literally just there to offer manic “humour” that basically amounts to him being a nuisance. However, his presence does tie into the film’s attempts to humanise Dredd; Dredd’s stoic façade and aggravation towards Fergie noticeably lifts as they spend more time together and there’s a genuine sense that the two have become begrudging friends by the finale.

Fargo reluctantly opts to step down to protect Dredd and the sanctity of the justice system.

The Judges have a great deal of resources at their command, from Lawgiver pistols that fire an array of ammo to Lawmaster bikes that let them blast through the skies (when they actually work). What they don’t have, however, is manpower; with the city growing more volatile, Judges such as Dredd are forced to rely on more extreme measures to safeguard the citizens, and this draws them much criticism from the likes of news reporter Vartis Hammond (Mitchell Ryan). Hammond’s sentiments are echoed by Chief Justice Fargo, a well-respected and long-tenured senior Judge who is burdened by the responsibilities he feels towards the welfare of Mega-City One. He’s reluctant to enforce harsher methods as he wants the Judges to stand for freedom and justice rather than oppression and, while he’s a figure that commands great respect, it’s undeniable that his beliefs are opposed by Dredd and even those in his council, like Judge Jürgen Griffin (Prochnow). Fargo is equally reluctant to reactive “Project: Janus”, an abortive attempt at cloning Judges rather than recruiting them, and is conflicted by his guilt and affection for Dredd, whom he sees as a son since he was cloned from his genetic material. After seeing Rico, Dredd’s clone brother, descend into madness, Fargo fears that he’s made a mistake in placing so much faith in Dredd but ultimately agrees with Griffin’s suggestion to take the Long Walk and spare Dredd’s life rather than risk the truth about Project: Janus being released and what little faith the people have in the justice system being compromised. A compelling and commanding presence, Fargo delivers much of the film’s emotional gravitas thanks to Max von Sydow’s alluring performance; his death is an emotional moment not just for the audience but for Dredd, too, who struggles with his turmoil of emotions his mentor’s revelations and passing stir up in him.

As if the corrupt Griffin wasn’t enough, Dredd has to contend with the cannibalistic Angel Gang.

Of course, it turns out that Fargo’s retirement is orchestrated by Judge Griffin in a conscious effort to remove him from the council, ascend to the role of Chief Justice, and coerce his fellow councilmembers into reactivating Project: Janus. Griffin sees the escalation of crime and violence in the city as an epidemic, one that must be stamped out with every resource at their disposal, in order to bring about “an ordered society”, even if it means suppressing basic human rights. To this end, he conspires to release Rico from his imprisonment, frame Dredd for the murder of Vartis Hammond and his fellow councilmembers, and instil his own brand of order to the city through the deployment of a new batch of genetically enhanced clones. Of all the character sin the film, I’d say that Griffin is the most changed from his comic book counterpart; here, he’s an ambitious and antagonistic schemer who wants to reshape the Judges into his own image, but even he is aghast when Rico tampers with the clones so that they’re born from his genetic material rather than the wise and benevolent council. Griffin is contrasted by the admirably faithful Angel Gang; a mutated group of in-bred misfits who have turned to cannibalism and madness in the wastelands of the Cursed Earth, the Angel Gang are comprised of patriarch Pa Angel (Scott Wilson) and his backwoods sons Junior (Ewen Bremner), Link (Phil Smeeton), and Mean Machine (Christopher Adamson). Unfortunately, we don’t learn too much about them except that they’re God-fearing misfits who openly torture and kill anyone who stumbles into their territory; Mean Machine Angel, always the most visually interesting and tragic of the family, is an obvious standout thanks to his raging temper and cybernetic enhancements but, sadly, they’re mainly included as a brief obstacle for Dredd to overcome while stranded in the radioactive wastelands and could’ve easily been replaced by the same nameless, faceless Judges who later enter the scene anyway, but I appreciate the effort used to translate them to the screen, however brief it was.

Bolstered by his robotic bodyguard, the psychotic Rico plans to cause cause across the city.

Our primary antagonist is, of course, the psychotic and strangely alluring Rico. Like in the comic books, Rico is Dredd’s clone brother but, unlike in the source material Dredd is unaware of this until late into the second act. While Dredd embodies the law and everything it stands for, Rico embodies chaos; a former Judge and Dredd’s only true friend, Rico turned to wholesale mayhem and destruction and was sentenced to death as a result, which directly contributed to Dredd adopting his cold-hearted demeanour. However, Judge Griffin intervened and saw to it that Rico was simply incarcerated so he could use him as his agent to bring about his new order for Mega-City One. Griffin unleashes Rico, hoping he’ll stir up anarchy, but quickly loses control over the maniacal killer, who reprograms a battered old Atomic, Bacterial and Chemical Warrior (ABC Warrior) to act as his bodyguard, murders the council, and sets about birthing his own bath of clones. Rico is an undeniable highlight of the movie thanks to Armand Asante’s snake-like performance; he’s constantly walking the fine line between reason and insanity, flipping on a dime between the two and coming across as a volatile and unpredictable personality with a surprising amount of depth. Rico was hurt when Dredd brought him to justice and feels betrayed by him, but also wishes Dredd to join him in restructuring the justice society, with Dredd as Chief Justice, in a bid to build a true family. Rico is also assisted by Doctor Ilsa Hayden (Joan Chen), a woman who’s primarily there to help Rico with the clone science and to give Hershey someone to fight in the finale; otherwise, she may as well not be there and she’s just a one-dimensional piece of ass-kicking eye candy that just stands next to Rico and reacts to his monologues.

The Nitty-Gritty:
It’s interesting that the tone of the film veers so far away from the more violent and dark humour of the source material, especially as the opening credits consist of a collage of various Judge Dredd and 2000 AD comic book covers as an acknowledgement of the film’s roots. To be fair, there is an attempt at evoking the violence of the comics throughout the movie; squibs and blood effects are prominent when characters are shot, especially during the opening Block War and subsequent shootouts, and Warden Miller (Maurice Roëves) suffers a particularly brutal shot to the throat during Rico’s escape. A lot of the more gruesome violence is rendered offscreen, but this is actually beneficial; when Rico orders the ABC Warrior to rip off Chief Justice Fargo’s arms and legs, the noise is enough to know how horrific that fate is, and there’s even a brief shot of the Angel Gang’s latest meal being chargrilled on a spit roast. It’s pretty obvious that the film was cut to avoid being slammed with a higher rating, but my main issue with the tone is the over-reliance on Fergie’s comedic mishaps to counterbalance the few, fleeting violent moments, though I do enjoy the dynamic between him and Dredd, especially when Dredd begrudgingly considers Fergie’s usefulness as a good luck charm and some of the Judge’s stoic one-liners. And Stallone has some great quips here, from his booming declaration of “I am…the law!”, his surly growl of “Courts adjourned”, and his explosive outburst in the trial scene! I also have to compliment Alan Silvestri’s rousing score; it strikes a fantastic balance between heroic, military-esque, and stirring and really bolsters the onscreen action as only Silvestri can.

While some effects haven’t aged well, overall the film holds up and impresses with its visuals.

One area where Judge Dredd really excels is in its visual aesthetic and presentation; obviously drawing much of its inspiration from Blade Runner, the film’s rendition of Mega-City One is as a sprawling, technologically advanced, overcrowded super-city that merges recognisable landmarks like the Statue of Liberty with impossibly high, futuristic skyscrapers. Neon signs, holographic projectors, and impressive technology such as flying cars, artificial intelligence, and mechanical conveniences are commonplace and many of them, like the Judge’s Lawmaster motorcycle, are comically unreliable. Indeed, there’s a definite sense of the city being cobbled together and everything has a very “lived-in” look; while the Judges have access to sleek toys and vehicles in contrast to the gritter back alleys where riots are frequent, there’s a definite sense that everyone’s just trying to make the best of what they have on offer, which ties in perfectly to the rising tensions in the streets over strained resources and overcrowding. The special effects hold up really well thanks to being a combination of miniatures, matte paintings, and practical effects; even the Cursed Earth and the exterior of Mega-City One have a grand sense of scale and CGI use is sporadic and not too glaring, though the Lawmaster chase through the city skyline does look a bit suspect. I can forgive this, however, as the flying vehicles and visual presentation is, overall, very impressive and very reminiscent of the source material. This is true of the Judge’s uniform; if anything, the film adheres too close to the source material here, translating the uniform into a form-fitting body suit bolstered by gleaming armour when it should probably be realised as something a bit more practical. Still, the Judges look great, especially Dredd; their helmets, badges, and armour are all extremely faithful to the source material and the same is true of Mean Machine Angel. My favourite of the Angel Gang, this psychotic cyborg is brought to gruesome life through the use of heavy prosthetics and my only complaint is that he doesn’t get much screen time. Similarly impressive is Rico’s recommissioned ABC Warrior; styled after Hammerstein and brought to live as a fully functioning practical effect, the ABC Warrior has a real weight and presence in the film and all of these real-life special effects make up for the few wonky special effects and help Judge Dredd stand the test of time even to this day, at least in terms of its visual appeal.

After a strong start, the movie commits the cardinal sin of removing Dredd’s helmet and making him a hero.

Of course, Judge Dredd betrays the very essence of the character within the first twenty minutes of its runtime when Dredd “[stands] at ease” and removes his helmet! I absolutely understand why this decision was made; if you’ve hired Sylvester Stallone, you want to see his face and it helps the character, and the actor, to express a greater range of motions but it undeniably goes against everything the character is known for. In the comics, Dredd essentially loses his humanity and individuality after Rico turns against the law, becoming the embodiment of the justice system, flaws and all, rather than a simple man. While he’s still that here and Dredd gives a particularly rousing speech to the young cadets regarding the level of commitment he expects from every Judge, the film is much more focused on humanising Dredd, turning him from a grim, almost robotic character and into a more compassionate, heroic figure… not unlike the narrative arc seen in RoboCop. Unfortunately this really doesn’t fit with Dredd’s characterisation and appeal; the whole point is that he’s a tough, but fair, enforcer of the law in an increasingly lawless society. Any political or social commentary is dumbed down in Judge Dredd, which approaches such aspects with a disappointingly toothless attack, but Dredd removing his helmet is basically a slap in the face to the audience, a way of saying “We’re here to make money”. The biggest irony of this is that the film has the perfect excuse to have its cake and eat it too; all they had to do was cast Stallone in a dual role, playing both Dredd and Rico, then he could’ve kept the helmet on and still been allowed to act with his face unobscured. Asante could’ve been cast as Judge Griffin since Prochnow isn’t exactly the most compelling presence in the movie (his performance is strangely exaggerated at times) and the script could’ve been rewritten to accommodate these alterations. I don’t know if that would’ve necessarily made the movie better but it would’ve at least stayed true to the spirit of the character and perhaps spared us the visual of the citizens cheering Dredd on in the finale like he’s a conquering hero, something his comic book counterpart would probably have deemed a public nuisance.

Dredd destroys his clones, dispatches Rico, and returns to duty as a street Judge.

Still, it’s hard to deny the gravitas that Asante brings to Rico and how captivating his performance is; Stallone definitely can act and has always stood out from his action hero peers as being more than a slab of meat, but he’s a little in over his head here and largely bolstered by his supporting cast as he focuses entirely on tweaking Dredd’s persona from an uncompromising man of the law to a more empathetic individual. Dredd undergoes a great deal of emotional turmoil in the film, from being betrayed and convicted by the system to discovering that he’s a clone of Fargo and that Rico is his genetic brother. The trial is particularly hard on Dredd, who knows he’s innocent but is convicted because of irrefutable genetic evidence, forcing him to see the flaws in the system, but he’s absolutely devastated when Fargo dies before his eyes after revealing the truth to him. After finally opening up to Hershey, Dredd gears up to confront his brother in the remains of the Statue of Liberty, where Project: Janus is situated. In this elaborate laboratory, Rico has spawned a new crop of clones using his own genetic material and, after Dredd refuses to join him in his campaign, Rico orders that the clones are hatched before they’re fully gestated, briefly forced Dredd to contend with the gruesome copies that are little more than monstrous drones. Although injured (by a shot that really should’ve been fatal…), Fergie is able to disable to ABC Warrior and Hershey fends off Dr. Hayden as the laboratory explodes around them, leaving Dredd and Rico to face off in a brutal fist fight in Lady Liberty’s head after just… ignoring the clones, which are basically just there for a jump scare. Despite clearly being Rico’s physical superior, Dredd ends up dangling precariously over a fatal drop after they exchange blows; luckily for Dredd, Rico can’t pass up the chance for one final monologue in which he chastises his brother’s lack of loyalty and vision, given Dredd the opportunity he needs to distract Rico with a flare, deliver one last one-liner, and sent him plummeting to his death. In the wake of Rico’s death, the truth about Griffin’s actions is broadcast, exonerating Dredd and leaving him in prime position to ascend to the role of Chief Justice. Surprisingly, the movie adheres to the spirit of the comics by having Dredd decline and recommit himself to his daily duties, and then deviates from it wildly by having him exhibit only confusion and intrigue rather than insult when Hershey plants a kiss on his lips.

The Summary:
So, yeah… I’m a little torn. If anyone knows the complexities of adaptation, it’s me, and I totally get that some things need to change to bring a concept to life. generally, I go into an adaptation looking to see how it stands by itself, what it does differently, and how it works in its new medium and genre and judge it according to those standards. By that measure, Judge Dredd is a pretty by-the-numbers sci-fi action/comedy; it’s colourful and visually stunning, with some decent action set pieces and humour (when Rob Schneider isn’t trying too hard) that has a certain appeal, especially for younger viewers. If you’ve seen Demolition Man, which came out only a couple of years before this, and Blade Runner, this is very much a mash up of those two, with a sprinkling of RoboCop in there; it’s not exactly ground-breaking, but the practical effects and visual presentation go a long way to making it an entertaining flick. Stallone does a decent job here; honestly, he was a great choice to play Judge Dredd and (literally) fills the boots well, carrying himself with a grim, stoic demeanour that perfectly contrasts with his stellar supporting cast. Unfortunately… it’s just not really Judge Dredd for me. it captures some of the essence of the source material, but not enough to truly do it justice. I can understand toning down the violence and changing some aspects, but removing the helmet was a big no-no. Obviously, it would’ve been a very different movie if Stallone had kept it on (and again, I don’t know if it’d really be “better”), but the key thing here is that Dredd’s character is changed to make him a more heroic figure, when that’s really missing the point of what Dredd’s all about. Ultimately, I think the filmmakers just played things too safe; this wasn’t a time when comic book movies were known for taking risks and that really shows here, resulting in a fun action romp but one that is more like a taster introduction to Dredd’s world rather than truly being representative of it, which is a shame.

My Rating:

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Could Be Better

What did you think to Judge Dredd’s live-action debut? Were you annoyed that he removed his helmet or do you think it made sense considering who was in the role? What did you like to Stallone’s performance and this interpretation of Dredd? Were you impressed by the film’s visuals, costume design, and special effects? What did you think to the plot regarding Dredd’s framing and his clash against Rico? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments or on my social media and be sure to check out my other Judge Dredd content.

Game Corner [Sci-Fanuary]: Metroid (Nintendo Switch)

Dr. K7 Comments

January sees the celebration of two notable dates in science-fiction history, with January 2 christened “National Science Fiction Day” to coincide with the birth date of the world renowned sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov, and HAL 9000, the sophisticated artificial intelligence of Arthur C. Clarke’s seminal 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), being created on 12 January.

Released: 14 November 2018
Originally Released: 6 August 1986
Developer: Nintendo
Original Developer: Nintendo R&D1 Intelligent Systems
Also Available For: GameBoy Advance, GameCube, Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Nintendo Wii, Nintendo Wii U

The Background:
It’s probably fair to say that, compared to Nintendo’s other heavy-hitters like Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda (Various, 1986 to present), the Metroid franchise (Various, 1986 to present) is maybe one of the company’s more under-rated properties. I actually have had very little experience with the series outside of the Super Smash Bros. series (Various, 1999 to 2018) and brief experiences with Metroid II: Return of Samus (Nintendo R&D1, 1991) and Super Metroid (Nintendo R&D1 Intelligent Systems, 1994), though this is mainly due to growing up as a SEGA guy. Metroid came about after Nintendo had seen success with their early titles for their industry-saving console, the NES. Producer Gunpei Yokoi and directors Satoru Okada and Masao Yamamoto collaborated on the title, which was heavily influenced by Alien (Scott, 1979). The developers sought to create an action-orientated game in which power-ups would be not only permanent, but necessary to completion, and with a strong emphasis on non-linear exploration. Metroid ended up being so successful in this regard that it, and Castlevania (Konami, 1986), spawned an entire videogame subgenre dubbed “Metroidvania”. Metroid was well-received upon release; reviews praised its challenging gameplay and it has since been recognised as one of the greatest games ever made. Metroid would spawn a number of sequels and spin-offs, and was ported to many subsequent Nintendo consoles either as an unlockable bonus or as a full-blown remake. Considering how popular and influential the series, and this first game, have become over the years, it’s no surprise that Metroid was included in the Nintendo Switch Online service soon after it launched, which also allowed me the chance to play it for the first time.

The Plot:
Bounty hunter Samus Aran journeys to the planet Zebes to retrieve the parasitic Metroid organisms from the malicious Space Pirates, who plan to replicate the Metroids by exposing them to beta rays and then use them as biological weapons in their mad plot for galactic conquest.

Gameplay:
Metroid is a 2D, sidescrolling, action/platformer with a strong emphasis on run-and-gun action, horizontal and vertical jumps, backtracking, and exploration. Players take on the role of Samus Aran, an armoured bounty hunter with a blaster for an arm, and must explore the planet Zebes, which is comprised of five relatively distinct areas all joined together in a huge game map. Samus begins the game able to shoot directly ahead or above and to jump, and you’ll quickly find that ground-based enemies are beyond your ability to destroy in the early going as Samus can’t shoot downwards or defeat enemies by jumping on them. You’ll also, literally, run face-first into a wall if you give into your gamer’s instinct and head to the right; instead, you should go left from the starting area, where you’ll find your first Chozo Statue and your first power-up, the Morph Ball, which lets you curl up into a ball by pressing down and thus slip into small tunnels and areas. From there, the sheer scope of your mission quickly becomes very daunting; not only do enemies respawn when you leave the immediate area (not the immediate screen, as you can scroll to the left and then go back to the right and your enemies will be back) but you’re missing the most crucial aspect a game like this needs: an onscreen map. I have absolutely no idea how gamers managed to play Metroid without this simple convenience, and have heard that they either drew their own maps or consulted magazines at the time just to get an idea of where the hell you’re meant to go. Since you acquire different upgrades along the way that help you access new areas, and a lot of the areas look very similar save for some different colours and flourishes, you’ll need a good memory and a lot of experimentation to figure out where you’re going and what you’re doing.

Explore a large, interconnected map finding upgrades to reach new areas.

Thankfully, you can at least hold down B or X for a rapid fire function and hold A to jump a little higher, and Samus is relatively durable; her health is measured in numerical units, and her default weapon has unlimited ammo, but you will have to deal with some difficult jumps (made all the more frustrating by some horrendous enemy placement and movements) and knockback damage that can send you dropping into lava or spikes, where your health will whittle away to nothing in no time at all. Metroid gives you just one chance to finish the game; if (well, when, really) you die, the game is over and you’re given a ludicrously long password to continue but, thankfully, the Nintendo Switch version allows for both save states and a rewind function if (again…when) you make a mistake. Health and ammo is dropped by enemies and there are numerous points where you can simply stand there, blasting at constantly respawning enemies to farm health or missiles, but take care as enemies can pounce from behind and more spawn in the moment you pick up your item. Your primary goal in Metroid is to find and defeat two bosses to create a bridge that leads to the final area, Tourian, to confront Mother Brain but, to reach these bosses, you’ll need to find new upgrades to open doors or reach new areas with a higher jump, temporary platforms, or dropping down through destructible blocks. Although areas start out pretty simple, it’s not long before you need to blast at stone blocks to create pathways and platforms (though you need to be careful as the blocks will damage you if you’re standing there when they spawn back in), hopping over tiny rocky platforms floating over lava, and dodging past tougher enemies. Luckily, there are no instant death hazards here, but you can easily get trapped in a dangerous position where enemies and hazards drain your health, or you’re left with such little health that you’ll die soon after anyway. All of this means that Metroid is a pretty touch experience, even with the quality of life features offered by the Nintendo Switch; it doesn’t take much for a simple mistake to lead to disaster, enemies can take quite a few hits before being dispatched, and it’s ridiculously easy to get turned around and completely lost. Luckily, there’s no time limit to worry about, and the game is much more enjoyable with a detailed map to help you out.

Graphics and Sound:
Given that it’s an 8-bit title, Metroid is quite the pixelated adventure; Samus, especially, stands out against all of the game’s dark backgrounds thanks to her orange armour but, as you might expect, doesn’t really have many frames of imagination. She ambles along at a decent pace, even able to shoot and run at the same time, but you’ll notice that the game suffers from severe slowdown when too many enemies or items are onscreen at the same time. Each area of Zebes is accompanied by a funky little tune, with the now-recognisable Metroid theme being the catchiest of them, but you won’t encounter any context or story-related text until the final moments of the game, meaning you’ll need the instruction manual to have any idea of what the hell’s going on.

While areas can be distinctive, there are many screens and sections that are confusingly similar.

Planet Zebes is split into five areas: Brinstar, Kraid’s Lair, Norfair, Ridley’s Lair, and Tourian, with each one connected by stone or mechanical tunnels and lifts that you can descend and ascend. Each area has a different colour scheme to help differentiate them a little (blue, green, grey, purple, etc) but they’re also very similar and feature nearly identical tunnels and screens in each area, meaning that it’s very easy to lose track of where you are. Some areas feature cloud platforms, stone columns, lava, bubble or monstrous platforms and ceilings, while others are long vertical shafts you need to make your way up. These long shafts can be safer spaces where you can restock on your supplies, but you’ll also need to make use of your Bomb to blow up blocks and descend downwards to give your Morph Ball a little boost to enter into seemingly impassable walls. While lava pits are best avoided, some are actually fake and lead to new areas; other times, you’ll need to navigate through tubes, avoiding or blowing up enemies and hoping you don’t end up being boiled alive. Little touches like moss, different types of stones or foreground elements, and minor visuals help to make some screens a little more distinct but it’s very easy to get confused as some screens are literally identical but at different points on the map and you’ll no doubt be driven made by the constant beeping when your health is low.

Enemies and Bosses:
Planet Zebes is host to all manner of alien baddies who will hop, swoop, and fly right at you without a second’s hesitation. While some of the smaller, weaker enemies can be destroyed in one shot, others take multiple shots and even the simplest of enemies can cause a major problem as they respawn constantly from all angles and it’s easy to get hit by one (and knocked into lava…) Spiked Zoomers are the easiest and most frequent enemy, though you’ll probably be farming pick-ups from Zebs quite often as well. Skree drop from the ceiling and will explode if you don’t destroy them quickly, Wavers, Rios, Multivolas, and Sidehoppers bounce around the screen erratically, Dragons spit fireballs at you in an arc from lava, and Rippers travel back and forth and make for useful temporary platforms oney you acquire the Ice Beam. In Tourian, you’ll encounter the titular Metroids, bug-like parasites that float around and home in on you to suck your energy away and which can only be destroyed with your limited supply of missiles.

After besting Ridley and Kraid, you’ll face your toughest challenge yet in Mother Brain’s defenses.

Considering the size of its map, Metroid only features three bosses; I assume you can theoretically tackle Kraid and Ridley in whatever order you like (assuming you take the right paths using a guide) but I fought Ridley first. This stubby little purple dragon hops up and down in the middle of the arena shooting projectiles at you. These also form a kind of protective shield that will block your shots, but can be destroyed with your weapons. Ridley doesn’t really need to do much else as he can absorb a huge amount of punishment before finally exploding, and the same can also be said about Kraid. Kraid is a little more formidable; he meanders back and forth across a platform surrounded by acid and constantly fires missiles and throws bladed projectiles at you, all of which you must dodge and shoot through in order to land the necessary multiple hits on the bulbous monster. There’s also a fake version of Kraid hiding in his lair, which will respawn upon defeat, and only by destroying the real Kraid can you complete the bridge and enter the game’s toughest and most unfair area by far. Mother Brain is a stationary brain inside a glass jar but is protected by an intricate and unrelenting arsenal of wall-mounted lasers, bubble-like projectiles, and barriers which you must blast through with your missiles. As if that isn’t bad enough, you’re given precarious platforms to stand on to shoot at her and must battle over a lava pit, constantly dodging and being pummelled by projectiles as you desperately try to fire your missiles at her through the narrowest of openings. Once she’s defeated, you’re then given about 999 in-game seconds to navigate up one final shaft and get to safety before the whole place explodes, making for a heart-poundingly tense and massively frustrating finale to an already challenging game.

Power-Ups and Bonuses:
Samus will find a wide variety of useful, permanent power-ups to gradually make her journey a little easier. It’s well worth taking the time to explore (or use a map…) to seek these out as you can increase her health by finding Energy Tanks (which will add another block of 99 health units to your total) and increase her maximum supply of missiles up to 255 with Missile Tanks. Since you need missiles to open doors and deal the maximum amount of damage to enemies, and will find yourself absolutely crucified in Tourian without these, these are both well worth seeking out. As mentioned, you’ll need the Morph Ball to progress past the first few screens, and soon acquire the Bomb to use in this form to destroy ground-based enemies or propel Samus into tunnels. The Long Beam will extend the range of Samus’s default weapon, which can also be upgraded to the Ice Beam (which, naturally, freezes enemies and turns them into temporary platforms but be warned as a subsequent shot will unfreeze them) and, eventually, the Wave Beam (which increases the firing range of your main attack). Samus can also find the High Jump Boots to extend her vertical jump, the Screw Attack to damage enemies with a spinning jump attack, and the Varia Suit to reduce the amount of damage she takes from enemies and hazards.

Additional Features:
As mentioned, the Nintendo Switch version allows for up to three save states and includes a rewind feature, both of which are incredibly useful for when you land in a sticky situation or want to take a break. If you fancy jumping ahead, you can also play an “SP” version of the game that bestows you with all the available equipment and upgrades and drops you right outside of the battle with Ridley. Unlike many videogames of its era, Metroid doesn’t feature a high score system but it does include multiple endings; the faster you finish the game, the more of Samus’s true form will be revealed in the ending. Additionally, after finishing the game, you’ll automatically start over in a new game with all of your power-ups (though without the additional Energy and Missile Tanks you acquired) or even garbed in a skin-tight outfit rather than armour.

The Summary:
I may not have ever properly played a Metroid game before, but I was fully aware of the franchise and its emphasis on backtracking and exploration. Consequently, I was a little intimidated to play through Metroid, especially as my limited experience with the series had left me struggling to find my way around. Although it is a real problem that Metroid doesn’t feature any kind of map (which is weird, as The Legend of Zelda (Nintendo R&D4, 1986) released earlier that same year and featured a rudimentary map system), it’s nothing you can’t solve with a quick Google search, meaning your only remaining hurdle is the challenge offered by the gameplay. While the controls are tight enough, Samus is a bit slippery and floaty at times, and her inability to fire in all directions makes things problematic, but nowhere near as annoying as the respawning, erratic enemies and tricky platforming sections. The various upgrades definitely help with this, and once you have a bit more health and a more powerful main attack and have gotten used to the repeating rooms and enemies, the game becomes a lot of fun. It’s definitely rough around the edges, though; when playing retro games on modern consoles, I always try to imagine how gamers coped back in the day and, in the case of Metroid, I can only assume they got through it with a great deal of patience and trial and error. Still, this was a decent experience and I’m glad that I finally played through it; it’s maybe a little too challenging and confusing at times for just a casual playthrough, though, so I’m interested to see if I find the later releases more appealing with their improved graphics and controls.

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

Have you ever played Metroid? If so, what did you think to it and how do you think it holds up today, both against its subsequent titles and other games from that era? Did you struggle to navigate the inter-connected game map? Which of the bosses and upgrades was your favorite? Have you ever finished the game without using modern enhancements, and what’s the best ending you’ve achieved? Which Metroid game is your favourite? Whatever your thoughts, feel free to leave a comment below or leave a reply on my social media, and be sure to check out my other Metroid reviews.

Back Issues [Sci-Fanuary]: 2000 AD #2

Dr. K3 Comments

January sees the celebration of two notable dates in science-fiction history, with January 2 christened “National Science Fiction Day” to coincide with the birth date of the world renowned sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov, and HAL 9000, the sophisticated artificial intelligence of Arthur C. Clarke’s seminal 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), being created on 12 January. This year, however, I’m spending every Thursday of January celebrating sci-fi’s toughest lawman, Judge Joseph Dredd!

Story Title: “Judge Dredd” (also known as “Judge Whitey”)
Published: 5 March 1977
Writer: John Wagner
Artist: Carlos Ezquerra

The Background:
Everyone knows DC and Marvel Comics; they’re unquestionably the top two comic book publishers in the United States and have birthed some of the greatest comic characters. Over here in the United Kingdom, comics are a little different; generally focusing on slapstick strip characters, British-made superheroes are a little more niche compared to those in the US. And then there’s 2000 AD, a sci-fi comic book that began life in February 1977 and is still published to this day; although the comic wasn’t expected to last long, 2000 AD briefly revitalised British pulp icon Dan Dare before crafting an entirely original character to appeal to their readers’ love of anti-authoritarian attitudes and narratives. Created by John Wagner, Carlos Ezquerra, and Pat Mills, the uncompromising Judge Dredd was the logical extreme from Wagner’s previous hardened cop, Jackson McBane/One-Eyed Jack and his name came from modifying the title of Mill’s unproduced horror strip, Judge Dread. Inspired by the leather-clad appearance of Death Race 2000’s (Bartel, 1975) “Frankenstein” (David Carradine), artist Carlos Ezquerra developed Dredd’s signature look of body armour, zips, and chains and placed Dredd into a futuristic setting far beyond the original intention, necessitating script alterations, with more reportedly coming about after the original story proved too violent. Known for keeping his face entirely obscured, aging in real time as the years went on, and his steadfast dedication to upholding law in a lawless futuristic society, Judge Dredd became one of the most popular and iconic British comic book characters of all time. Essentially an extreme parody of the US politics and judicial system, Judge Dredd has been involved in some violent and politically-charged tales in his nearly fifty years on the force, including crossovers with DC and Dark Horse properties and even meeting his two live-action counterparts in a one-off special. Judge Dredd has also made the leap into prose texts, videogames, and movies (with varying success) and even inspired the concept of the all-action sci-fi classic RoboCop (Verhoeven, 1987), proving that this ultra-violent lawman is one of the UK’s most enduring and influential fictional characters.

The Review:
Like all my comic book, sci-fi, and action fondness, I owe my love of Judge Dredd to my dad; my dad is a big fan of the character and 2000 AD comics and is responsible for getting many of Dredd’s collected adventures and individual issues into my hands when I was a kid. Personally, I prefer Dredd’s more epic and horror-themed tales, especially those involving the Dark Judges, but I’m always up for reading more of his adventures and have familiarised myself with a fair few of this escapades over the years. His earliest stories are a little different to later tales, with Dredd’s character being noticeably different and his appearance more subdued compared to the stony-faced grimace and imposing physique he’s now known for and this is noticeably right from the first impressive splash page of his debut tale. “Judge Dredd” introduces us to New York in the year 2099 A.D., so right away we have a few things different compared to established Dredd canon; rather than operating within the overcrowded walls of Mega-City One, Dredd enforces the law on the futuristic and crime-ridden streets of New York some seventy-five years from now (and over 120 years into the future from the date the story was published), with even the ruins of the Empire State Building factoring into the narrative over more recognisable Mega-City One structures and trappings. It’s a moot point in many ways since Mega-City One encompasses New York but an interesting observation that the story initially had its roots more firmly planted in real-world locations. Similarly, the captions tell us: “Judges are special lawmen of the 21st century. Elected by the people to enforce the law” which, as far as I’m aware, is decidedly at odds with the more totalitarian nature of the Judges, who are often a borderline dictatorship since crime and social chaos are so rampant within the city walls.

Judge Dredd doesn’t hesitate to show some Judge-killing punks who’s the law in the far future!

Anyway, one of these Judges races along a futuristic highway to intercept a gang of criminals, led by the sadistic and Judge-hating Whitey, only to be cut down by Whitey’s high-impact laser blast. Although he and his disreputable cohorts are disappointed to find they murdered Judge Alvin instead of the legendary Judge Dredd (who already has a reputation as “the toughest of the Judges” even in his first appearance), Whitey consoles himself with the promise of killing more Judges, especially Dredd, and in taking Judge Alvin’s helmet and badge for his own, rechristening himself “Judge Whitey”. Whitey’s true target, Judge Dredd, is in the middle of being praised by the “Grand Judge” for his efforts in reducing the crime rate in Section Six when they’re interrupted by the arrival of Judge Alvin’s dead body strapped to his motorcycle with a threatening note from Judge Whitey. Incensed, the Grand Judge prepares to order an air strike to obliterate Whitey at the Empire State Building but Judge Dredd volunteers to go in alone to teach people to have “respect for the law”. Dredd easily avoids Judge Alvin’s fate by distracting them with his bike, which he sets to automatic so he can get the drop on them from behind. Despite being outnumbered and outgunned, Judge Dredd lives up to his reputation and his skill as a lawman by gunning down Whitey’s minions and taking it to the would-be Judge with his bare hands. Although no match for the Judge, Whitey promises to escape from prison and continue his vendetta, only to be reduced to a tears when Dredd sentences him to life at “Devil’s Island”, a huge traffic island in the middle of a dangerous and bustling inter-city highway complex where any escape attempt is comparable to suicide. The Grand Judge approves of Dredd’s stern sentencing and laments that it’s perhaps the fate of all Judges to die in service of their duties, a destiny Dredd fully supports if it means upholding the law.

The Summary:
Although a brisk, five-page story with some notable differences to later Judge Dredd canon, Judge Dredd’s debut appearance establishes much of the lore and characterisation that would become so synonymous with the lawman and his world for the next fifty-plus years. What little we see of this proto-Mega-City One is beautifully rendered as a bustling futuristic landscape full of oddly-shaped buildings, dangerous stretches of highway, and clogged with traffic all amidst the ruins of New York City. Although the strip is brought to life in black-and-white, there’s a level of detail here that really gives a depth and intrigue to this far-flung world, where criminals use high-powered laser rifles, the Judges ride around on supped-up motorcycles, and the technology of the time is rendered with a kind of 1960s-esque fantasy that makes everything feel lived in and somewhat anachronistic. It’s interesting seeing so many references to the Judges acting on behalf of the public and being talked about as celebrated civil servants by the righteous citizens; my experience with Judge Dredd is that he’s just as likely to arrest or punish an innocent bystander for being a public nuisance as he is a violent criminal so it’s kind of fascinating seeing that the Judges were initially painted as being more virtuous rather than an exaggerated pastiche of militant, martial law.

The groundwork for Judge Dredd’s long and colourful history is all nicely established here.

A tougher, more violent law enforcer for a chaotic futuristic society, Judge Dredd is seemingly the embodiment of law and order, willing diving head-first into even the most dangerous situations simply to set an example to the people. Although there’s a sense that he’s just as angered by Judge Alvin’s death as the Grand Judge, his motivation for tackling Whitey and his gang is more about sending a message to criminals and the general public that the Judges are a force to be reckoned with; he believes that an air strike would diminish the people’s faith in their law enforcers and so volunteers to re-establish that there are consequences to killing one of their number. Judge Dredd’s faith in the system is so total that he considers dying in the line of duty to be the highest honour and he respectfully places Judge Alvin’s badge amongst the dozens hanging from a commemorative wall at “Justice H.Q.”. His sentencing of Whitey to such an inhumane punishment is also motivated by his disgust at the death of a comrade, something he would rather see Whitey suffer for than be granted a merciful death. Judge Dredd is clearly younger and a bit less stoic than I’ve come to know him; he shows respect and appreciation towards the Grand Judge and even cracks a bit of sass with Whitey’s gang before executing them. While many characters talk about Dredd’s reputation, we immediately see that he’s a far more skilled and wily Judge than Judge Alvin as he’s not only smart enough to avoid being so easily gunned down but effortlessly kills Whitey’s comrades and brings the perp in without breaking a sweat. Overall, this was an enjoyable little romp; the basic sense of Judge Dredd and his crime-infested world is all here and it’s fascinating to witness the character’s origins and trace his evolution as a more complex and multifaceted character as time goes on. It’s maybe a little too short and probably lacking in deep characterisations and world-building, but there’s enough here to whet the appetite and give a sense of this no-nonsense lawman of the future.

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

What did you think to Judge Dredd’s debut story? Did you like that he started out in a futuristic New York City or do you prefer the more unique setting of Mega-City One? What did you think to Dredd’s characterisation as an uncompromising lawman? Did you find Whitey and his gang to be disappointing first enemies for Dredd or do you prefer seeing him effortlessly gun down punks? What are some of your favourite Judge Dredd stories, characters, villains, and moments? Share your thoughts on the lawman of the future in the comments below and be sure to check out my other Judge Dredd content.

Wrestling Recap: Elimination Chamber Match (New Year’s Revolution ’06)

Dr. K1 Comment

The Date: 8 January 2006
The Venue: Pepsi Arena; Albany, New York
The Commentary: Joey Styles, Jerry “The King” Lawler, and Jonathan “The Coach” Coachman
The Referee: Mike Chioda
The Stakes: Six-man Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship

The Build-Up:
In 2006, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) was the undisputed titan of the sports entertainment industry. After buying their competition, the company split their expansive roster into two brands; Raw and SmackDown! each had exclusive wrestlers, belts, creative teams, and even pay-per-view events. While this gave a platform for the fabled “SmackDown! Six” and frustrated audiences with Triple H’s “Reign of Terror”, it inevitably led to an expensive prospect for wrestling fans and an overall sense of brand dilution. Dubbed the “Ruthless Aggression” era, this period saw the rise of up-and-coming stars like John Cena and Batista, the in-ring return of the “Heart Break Kid” Shawn Michaels, the ascension of long-time tag team performer Edge to the main event, and the debut of some ground-breaking match concepts such as the Money in the Bank ladder match and the six-man Elimination Chamber match. Long before he became one of their most divisive figures, John Cena captured his first WWE Championship at WrestleMania 21 and was immediately drafted to the Raw brand to capitalise on his popularity, where he clashed with Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff. Although he triumphed over Bischoff’s hand-picked opponents throughout the year, many of his rivals came back with a vengeance after winning qualifying matches to earn a spot in this Elimination Chamber match, which was the fourth time the company had produced this stipulation. However, waiting in the wings was Edge, who had captured the first ever Money in the Bank briefcase, which allowed him the opportunity to cash-in the contract within for a championship match anytime, anywhere, meaning that the deck was constantly stacked against the streetwise champion.

The Match:
As ever, the first five minutes or so prior to the start of the match was dedicated to selling the brutality of the structure and the rules of the Elimination Chamber before the competitors came to the ring. First up was Kane, right in the middle of his psychotic unmasked gimmick and a World Tag Team Championship run alongside the Big Show, closely followed by one of two rising stars who really didn’t fit in this match, “The Masterpiece” Chris Masters, a ‘roided up freak whose only selling point was his physique and his lame-ass Full Nelson submission that, somehow, managed to get over. The second unlikely star in this match was Carlito, who had history with Cena from their feuds over the United States Championship but was another guy I just found to be bland no matter how many apples he spat in people’s faces. Thankfully, the star power returned to the match when Kurt Angle came to the ring, accompanied by chants of “You suck!” and his unnecessary manager at the time, Daivari, meaning it would be the champion, John Cena, going the distance and starting off against Shawn Michaels. Thanks to finally having a Sky subscription around this time, I was very much invested in the Blue Brand and remember John Cena’s inauspicious debut against Kurt Angle and his evolution from a white-meat rookie into an annoying, self-entitled rapper. However, I never really had strong feelings for or against Cena and it wouldn’t be until the WWE kept going back to Cena as champion again and again at the expense of new stars that I tired of his shtick, but he definitely got his fair share of boos here as the crowd had already started to turn against him.

Although Angle came in all intense, a single superkick was enough to eliminate him in quick fashion…

Thanks to the will of WWE Chairman Vince McMahon, Shawn Michaels and John Cena got the match started (to chants of “Cena sucks!” that the commentary team unsuccessfully tried to explain away) with a bit of chain wrestling that quickly turned into a slap-and-slug-fest and the two trying to ram each other into the heavy chains that made up the cage walls. Back in the ring, HBK won the favour of the crowd with some stiff chops and a dominating performance, scoring the first near fall of the match, though it wasn’t long before Cena turned the tide and HBK was flailing like a fish on the top rope. After HBK took a clothesline over the ropes, Carlito joined the match and immediately attacked Cena, hitting a dropkick and crushing HBK with an impressive somersault senton over the ropes and to the steel floor on the outside! The crowd continued to boo everything Cena did and cheer even Carlito when he planted Cena with a modified flapjack, though Carlito made things worse for himself by targeting both the champion and Shawn Michaels, leading to the two working together to shut him down with a double flapjack for a two count. This two on one situation evened out when Kurt Angle joined the fray and started planting everyone with German Suplexes over and over in an explosion of intensity. Angle specifically targeted Cena and Michaels, two men he’d been feuding with throughout 2005, splitting HBK’s forehead open on the chains, ramming him into a plexiglass pod, and mercilessly beating Cena down in the corner. With his rivals down, Angle tried to score the first elimination when he caught Carlito in his patented Ankle Lock, but Carlito’s ally, Chris Masters, rushed the ring and floored everyone with stiff lariats and power moves. However, when he tried to put the Master Lock on Angle, the Olympic Gold Medallist slipped out and put him in the Ankle Lock, before immediately switching to slapping the hold on Cena after slipping out of the FU, but Angle’s time in the match was suddenly ended when HBK hit the Sweet Chin Music out of nowhere for a three count!

Sadly, the star power was removed from the match, leaving Cena with Masters and Carlito.

Carlito and Chris Masters then isolated Cena and HBK, wearing them down with sluggish, uninspired offense and repeated tosses into the steel mesh of the cage. Any attempt by Cena to fight back was instantly shut down by the double team attack, leaving the two rivals beaten on the mat when Kane finally entered the match. Kane went right for the two men standing, planting Carlito and Masters with a big boot and a sidewalk slam before planting both Shawn Michaels and John Cena with Chokeslams. Chris Masters saved Carlito from the same fate, receiving a sock to the jaw for his troubles, but this bought Carlito enough time to briefly down Kane with the Backstabber. When Kane continued to sit up and fight back, the two took him down again and then anticlimactically scored the second elimination of the match after Master press-slammed Carlito onto the Big Red Monster and the two piled on top of him to pin him down. Consequently, the match returned to the previous formula of Carlito and Masters squaring off against Cena and HBK, with Carlito punishing Shawn on the outside and Masters manhandling Cena in the ring before they isolated HBK. Shawn Michaels made a sudden comeback, however, taking both men down and even delivered his patented diving elbow drop to Cena. Though he was too exhausted to go for a pin, Shawn tuned up the band in the corner and damn-near took Cena’s head off with the Sweet Chin Music but Carlito and Masters made the bizarre decision to rush him before he could eliminate the champion from the match and Carlito even pinned Shawn after hitting one of the lamest and piss-poor finishers I know, the damn Cross Rhodes!

Although Cena survived the Elimination Chamber, Edge cashed in to steal his first WWE Championship!

So, rather than have this lacklustre match at least end with John Cena versus Shawn Michaels, the final stretch was a protracted two on one situation pitting the champion against Carlito and Chris Masters, two young prospects, yes, but guys simply lacking the charisma to get the crowd as invested as an HBK/Cena clash. The crowd, already against Cena, instantly saw this as an attempt to paint the champion as an underdog so the jeers filled the arena as Cena overpowered his two assailants with his “Five Moves of Doom”. Masters saved Carlito from the FU and delivered a brutal DDT to the steel floor, busting him open and leaving him helpless to save himself from being rammed into the steel or being bludgeoned by a beatdown. After planting Cena with a double back body drop from the top rope, Masters tied him up in the Master Lock but was unexpectedly betrayed when Carlito hit a low blow and rolled him up to take him out of the match. Unfortunately Carlito couldn’t capitalise as Cena immediately rolled him up to retain the WWE Championship. Bloody and battered, Cena celebrated to a mixture of cheers and boos, but his night took a turn for the worst when Vince McMahon appeared and announced that Edge was cashing in his Money in the bank contract! Accompanied by Lita, Edge rushed the ring and attacked Cena, frantically trying to pin him quickly and stomping away at the battered champion. Fatigued and caught off-guard, Cena was easy prey for a Spear, but shockingly got his shoulder up off the pin attempt! Stunned, Edge charged ahead with a second Spear and finally put Cena down for the three count to win his first-ever WWE Championship for a much-celebrated feel-good moment for the dastardly heel that almost made this bore of a match worth sitting through.

The Aftermath:
Edge’s win set the standard for future Money in the Bank cash-ins; rarely would a briefcase holder name a time and place for their championship opportunity as it was much easier to cash-in on a beaten and tired champion and the briefcase was generally used as a tool to spotlight an up-and-coming future champion. For Edge, it was his ticket to the main event scene and he began a short feud with John Cena over the WWE Championship. Sadly, Cena would regain the belt from Edge at the Royal Rumble but it wouldn’t be the last time Edge won a World Heavyweight Championship and he was compensated with a star-making performance against Mick Foley at WrestleMania 22. At that same event, Cena defended the belt against Triple H and Shawn Michaels’ issues with Mr. McMahon came to a head in a bloody and brutal no holds barred match between the two. As for Kurt Angle, he jumped back to SmackDown! and captured the World Heavyweight Championship, which he then lost at WrestleMania 22 to Rey Mysterio in a triple threat match, thereby setting Rey on a course for his first emotional, if poorly booked, main event run. Finally, Carlito and Chris Masters would tangle with Kane once more when they challenged the Big Red Monster and the Big Show for the World Tag Team Championships in a losing effort at WrestleMania 22; they would then split up and face off in a short feud that ultimately led to Carlito coming out on top. Of course, this wouldn’t be the last Elimination Chamber match; the infamous “Extreme” Elimination Chamber was held in December 2006 and audiences were guaranteed to see at least one a year when it graduated to a self-titled pay-per-view in 2010, however the following year’s New Year’s Revolution event would be the last carrying that brand name.

My Rating:

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Could Be Better

What did you think to the fourth Elimination Chamber match? Do you enjoy the match concept? Were you a fan of John Cena or were you already sick of his schtick at this point? What did you think to the competitors in this match? Were you shocked to see Edge steal the victory at the end? What’s your favourite Elimination Chamber match and Money in the Bank cash-in? Did you enjoy the New Year’s Revolution event and would you like to see it revived? Whatever your thoughts on the 2006 Elimination Chamber and its participants, share them below or leave a comment on my social media.

Wrestling Recap: Kurt Angle vs. Sting (Bound for Glory ’07)

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The Date: 14 October 2007
The Venue: Arena at Gwinnett; Duluth, Georgia
The Commentary: Mike Tenay and Don West
The Referee: Rudy Charles and Andrew Thomas
The Stakes: Main event singles match for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship

The Build-Up:
On the 27 May 1996 edition of WCW Monday Nitro, Scott Hall declared war on World Championship Wrestling (WCW). He, Kevin Nash, and their “third man”, Hulk Hogan, hijacked WCW programming as the New World Order (nWo) and WCW dominated the “Monday Night Wars”. WCW’s saviour in this period was Sting, who disappeared into the rafters for almost a year before returning in a persona heavily inspired by The Crow (O’Barr, 1989; Proyas, 1994) to defeat “Hollywood” Hulk Hogan for the WCW Championship in an infamous match on this day in 1997. By 2007, however, the wrestling landscape had vastly changed; the unthinkable happened on 26 March 2001 when Vince McMahon, chairman of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), appeared on Monday Nitro to officially announce his purchase of WCW, thus ending the Monday Night Wars. While a handful of WCW wrestlers jumped to the WWE for an ill-fated “Invasion” angle, many chose to sit out their big-money contracts, and one WCW star who repeatedly turned down WWE was “The Icon”, Sting. Instead, Sting signed on with upcoming promotion Total Nonstop Action (TNA), an alternate to mainstream WWE founded by Jeff and Jerry Jarrett and initially part of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). Initially, Sting’s time in TNA was focused on opposing Jeff Jarrett, who held a stranglehold over the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, and in various feuds with Christian Cage and Abyss. When the NWA stripped TNA’s champions of their belts, Sting briefly captured the newly-christened TNA World Heavyweight Championship in a match mired in controversy. While Sting was undoubtedly one of TNA’s biggest signings, so too was former Olympic champion Kurt Angle, who made a shocking debut on October 6, 2006 and captured TNA’s top belt by making Sting tap out earlier in the year. After a short run with the TNA World Tag Team Championships, Sting earned himself another shot at the big belt and these two wrestling legends met once more in this one-on-one contest.

The Match:
As much of a wrestling fan as I am, it’s always been difficult for me to watch WWE on a consistent basis; over here in the United Kingdom, we usually have to pay extra for sports channels to watch the weekly shows, which is something I’ve never been interested in, so it was rare and exciting to have wrestling programming available on channels I was already paying for as part of my television package. TNA was one of those shows, and I dipped in and out of the product for quite some time; I watched some of the early years in the Asylum, where many of the low-tier WCW and WWE guys would battle it out over that piece of scrap tin the NWA called a championship and got my first taste of future stars such as AJ Styles, Abyss, and Samoa Joe as well as seeing personal favourites like Raven return to the ring. My peak for the company was when it transitioned to Impact Wrestling, a move I still disagree with, but I remember them signing big names like Sting and Kurt Angle and it really making me sit up and take notice. Sadly, a series of blunders meant that TNA/Impact never quite managed to reach the same level as the WWE but, for a while there, it was easily the number two wrestling promotion in the United States and things were legitimately very exciting in this much-needed alternative to the WWE mainstream. Where else, after all, would you get to see Sting and Kurt Angle battle for a World Heavyweight Championship? All this context is to say that, while TNA wasn’t quite as polished as the WWE powerhouse, they did the best they could to provide a different brand of wrestling and put on some truly exciting matches, and their hype package for this main event was emblematic of that as the video, while not to the standards of WWE’s production, set the stage for these two wrestling icons clashing in Georgia, the birthplace of WCW and Sting’s most memorable moments and of Angle’s Olympic gold medal victory.

A lengthy feeling out process soon saw Kurt Angle take control.

A couple of things I really enjoyed about TNA, especially during this time, was that they used a six-sided ring instead of the traditional four; while I’m sure this was difficult for many performers to adjust to, I always thought this helped the promotion stand out from the competition and thought it was a dumb move to remove that feature when Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff came along. Mike Tenay and Don West also liked to breakdown the match and its performers in a “Tale of the Tape” segment, which always lends an air of legitimacy to the contest in my eyes and essentially paints both competitors as being on somewhat even ground, although Angle was benefiting from a recent edge to his character and an association with Kevin Nash. Sting came out first to the unanimous support of the admittedly small audience and his absolutely dreadful TNA theme (nothing beats Metallica’s “Seek and Destroy”, in my opinion) and carrying his trusty baseball bat; Kurt Angle followed and man, it is weird not hearing the crowd chant “You suck!” at him and to see his vices still taking their toll. Once the bell rang, the two seemed a little cautious; they exchanged collar and elbow tie-ups and go-behinds at the start as part of a feeling out process, with Sting backing away whenever Angle grabbed the ropes to break his holds, but Angle’s wrestling prowess saw him get the upper hand in the early going with a takedown and a wrist lock. Sting showed he wasn’t just some showboat, however, by giving as good as he got; both men targeted the wrist and arm (a strange strategy considering both favour a leg-based submission hold…) and tried to out-wrestle each other with headlock takedowns. Things finally started to speed up once Sting whipped Angle off the ropes; Angle scored with a shoulder block, but Sting landed a beautiful hip toss that was enough for Angle to flee to the outside. Angle took his time getting back into the ring and switched from indulging him with tie-ups and went on the offensive with a gut kick, a European uppercut, and some knife-edge chops against the ropes.

Sting’s tenacity took a beating thanks to Angle’s resourcefulness and Nash’s interference.

A burst of adrenaline saw Sting shrug these off, however; he landed some chops of his own followed by the ten punches in the corner. An awkward reversal exchange saw Angle block Sting’s next attempt to whip him into the ropes, but he ate a dropkick and took a clothesline to the outside after Sting frantically kicked him off a potential Ankle Lock attempt. Sting eventually followed and rammed Angle into the guard rail and onto the announcer’s table before tossing him back into the ring. Angle’s attempt to regain some momentum saw him fly shoulder-first into one of the ring posts but a rake to the eyes allowed him to escape the Scorpion Death Drop. Suddenly, the match turned in Angle’s favour; he planted Sting with a snap German Suplex, followed up with a backbreaker and a couple of unsuccessful pin attempts, before once again beating on Sting and choking him in the corner. A vertical suplex scored a two count, then Angle locked in a body scissors around Sting’s ribs, which he transitioned into a headlock and ended with a belly-to-belly suplex that tossed Sting across the ring. Angle continued the pressure with a chin lock to keep Sting grounded, allowing both men to catch their breath and building tension as Sting rallied for support to power back to his feet. A double clothesline saw led to a dramatic ten count and another chance to the clearly winded competitors to recuperate; a slugfest followed, which saw Sting repeatedly plant Angle with a series of clotheslines and a big spinebuster. Sting’s first cover of the match resulted in a two count and directly led to him hitting his patented Stinger Splash on an absolutely drenched Angle, and then another to the champion’s back followed by a running faceplant. Oddly, Sting then went to the top rope; not sure why or what the hell he was thinking but it was a moot point as Angle leapt up and tossed him down with a big suplex for another near fall. Sting slipped out of an Olympic Slam and tried a roll-up for another close two count, then Angle got pissed and started pounding the life out of Sting with not one, not two, but three successive German Suplexes. Feeling the intensity raging through him, Angle dropped the straps and slapped on the Ankle Lock, but Sting was able to roll over and, inexplicably, reverse it into the Scorpion Deathlock! Unfortunately for the Icon, Angle’s wife, Karen, rushed to the ring the distract him and the referee, which allowed Kevin Nash to plant him with a clothesline.

In the end, Sting’s trusty bat and finishing move secured him his first, if brief, TNA Championship.

Angle then scored with the Olympic Slam but the referee was busy dealing with Karen so he was a little too late for the count, meaning Sting kicked out. Angle then sat Sting on the top rope but, while Sting was able to fight out of a belly-to-belly suplex, his attempt at a diving splash saw him eat nothing but knees, though he still kicked out of the pin. Angle then planted Sting and hit this trippy somersaulting knee drop, like a version of the 450 Splash, but it still only got a two count. Frustrated by Sting’s tenacity, Angle went for the Ankle Lock again, this time right in the middle of the ring; Stin rolled out and sent Angle flying into Nash. However, when Sting ducked Angle’s wild clothesline, referee Rudy Charles got taken out and thus Sting was left frantically motioning for a new referee after planting Angle with the Scorpion Death Drop. Referee Andrew Thomas tried to make the three count but Nash yanked him out of the ring and punched him out before putting a beating on Sting in the corner. Sting took both Nash and Angle down with a double clothesline, however, but got a good ol’ shot to the nuts from Angle for his efforts. Tenay tried to say that Sting managed to block a shot from Angle with his own baseball bat but he clearly wasn’t fast enough as you can see the bat hit him and he ends up bleeding as a result. Still, Sting snatched the bat away and busted Angle open before finally taking Nash out of the equation. Sting then hit another Scorpion Death Drop and Rudy Charles came around long enough to make the final three count, thus awarding Sting another World Heavyweight Championship, much to the delight of the crowd, the announcers, and Sting himself. Sadly, though, this was quite the lethargic affair; considering the two had a bit of a grudge heading into the match, the energy was lacking and it was a very slow and by-the-numbers affair, possibly to cover for Sting’s limitations and Angle’s physical issues. Both guys seemed to get winded very quickly and the referee bumps and interference weren’t really necessary, and the whole contest felt like it was on the verge of kicking into a higher gear but just never got around to it.

The Aftermath:
Sting’s first of four reigns as the TNA World Heavyweight Champion wouldn’t last long; he dropped the belt back to Kurt Angle two days later on an episode of TNA Impact! after interference by Kevin Nash. The two then faced off again the following month at Genesis in a tag team match; Sting and the recently-debuted Booker T took on Angle and Nash, with Angle again emerging victorious. Sting then took a bit of time away from TNA and even teased his retirement, before returning in 2008 and joining forces with Angle, Nash, and Booker T and Scott Steiner as the Main Event Mafia to battle TNA’s younger stars in a turf war. This not only saw Sting reclaim the top belt but reignited his feud with Angle, which eventually led to the stable turning on the Icon, and he and Angle continued to trade wins, losses, and the championship belt even as Sting’s sanity began to slip. Sting and Angle last shared a TNA ring together in 2013 when they reformed the Main Event Mafia to oppose the Aces & Eights stable; both men were inducted into the TNA Hall of Fame (with Sting being the very first inductee) and the WWE Hall of Fame and even showed up on WWE programming later down the line. However, while Angle officially retired from in-ring competition in April 2019, Sting bounced back from what seemed like a career-ending injury to become an active mentor and competitor in All Elite Wrestling (AEW).

My Rating:

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Could Be Better

What did you think to the contest between Sting and Kurt Angle at Bound for Glory 2007? Were you excited to see Sting and Angle be a part of the TNA roster at the time? Did the pacing and interference bother you? What did you think to Sting and Angle’s time in TNA and what are some of your favourite matches and moments from their time there? Were you a fan of TNA? Which of Sting’s “Crow” eras, personas, and matches are your favourite? Whatever your thoughts on Sting, and this match in particular, feel free to voice them below or leave a comment on my social media.

Movie Night: Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom

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Released: 17 March 2023
Director: James Wan
Distributor: Warner Brothers
Budget: $205 million
Stars: Jason Momoa, Patrick Wilson, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Randall Park, Temuera Morrison, and Amber Heard

The Plot:
Desperate to find the means to avenge himself against Arthur Curry/Aquaman (Momoa), pirate David Kane/Black Manta (Abdul-Mateen II) stumbles upon the mythical Black Trident, which possesses him and compels him to unleash an ancient threat so powerful Aruthur is forced to join forces with his deposed brother, Orm Marius (Wilson).

The Background:
Back in 1941, Mort Weisinger and Paul Norris created the character of Arthur Curry as part of DC Comics’ (then known as National Comics) desire to capitalise on the success of Clark Kent/Superman and Bruce Wayne/Batman. Although subject to unfair ridicule over the years, Aquaman ultimately had the last laugh when, after years of Development Hell and aborted projects, his live-action debut was met with critical and financial success. Following a short-lived animated spin-off on HBO Max, a planned horror-themed spin-off was thankfully cancelled and a sequel was quickly greenlit; both Momoa and director James Wan were enthusiastic to explore other kingdoms and regions of Atlantis and the vast underwater realm, though the film attracted unwanted media attention when star Amber Heard was accused of abusing her husband, Johnny Depp. Many called for her to be recast and, while Warner Brothers initially shot this request down, it was reported that her role had been significantly reduced as a result of the circus of a trial that followed. The production also stalled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which changed the release date numerous times but did give the visual effects team more time to work on the film. This apparently also involved excising cameo appearance from one or more Bruce Wayne/Batman actors as James Gunn geared up towards completely restarting the DCEU, with Gunn apparently providing some notes to the filmmakers. After much drama and delays, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom finally released to largely negative reviews; critics attacked the brainless plot and clunky pacing, though Wan’s direction and Momoa’s enthusiastic performance were praised. As of this writing, the film has currently grossed $340.6 million at the box office but it’s largely academic; Momoa isn’t expected to reprise the role in Gunn’s new DC Universe and no new Aquaman projects have been announced yet, leaving the character essentially dead in the water no matter how much money the sequel makes,

The Review:
I was pleasantly surprised by Aquaman; it was big, colourful, mindless fun in an era when the DCEU was unnecessarily dark and bleak, and it altered Aquaman’s characterisation in a way that made him so much more entertaining and relatable. Jason Momoa attacks the role with such relish and natural charisma that it’s easy to overlook flaws in logic or pacing, and that same charm returns in this sequel. Of course, it helps that he’s disgustingly good looking and absolutely shredded, but Momoa’s Aquaman has the kind of Dude/Bro mentality and whimsical childishness that really brings a smile to my face. In this film, a lot has changed for the slovenly brute who once shunned humanity and responsibility; he’s now the King of Atlantis, doting father to Arthur Junior (Various), and loving husband to Y’Mera Xebella Challa (Heard). First, let’s address the elephant in the room: yes, Mera is in this movie but no, she does not have much of a role. In fact, given all the controversy surrounding Amber Heard, I was expecting Mera to be killed off and it does seem like that almost happened; instead, she’s merely severely wounded by Black Manta and taken out of the second act of the movie, only to make a minor reappearance at the end to help Arthur and Orm and get the baby to safety. I can fully understand this, and it’s not like her presence is really missed; she still impresses in her skin-tight outfit and gets to show off her hydrokinetic powers, but the plot doesn’t require her presence and it’s better she was given less prominence considering everything that happened. Interestingly, much of her character development from the first film is repeated with Orm; he’s prejudiced against the surface world like Mera was, confused by their words and ways, and slowly comes to enjoy some of our customs by the movie’s end, though these lessons are reframed in the context of Arthur encouraging a stronger bond between them and him pulling pranks on his relatively naïve younger brother by tricking him into thinking cockroaches are a delicacy!

Now a father dissatisfied with the crown, Arthur teams up with his brother to face a powerful threat.

So, there’s not much focus on the romance here; even Arthur’s father, lighthouse keeper Tom (Morrison) and Queen Atlanna (Nicole Kidman) don’t share a scene together until the start of the third act, and Arthur’s initial conversations with his father even somewhat imply that Atlanna is dead. She’s not, but her role here is equally minimal and simply the catalyst to unite her two estranged sons into joining forces. Instead, we’re left with Arthur, but that’s more than enough! Despite his big victory in the first film, Arthur is bored by the crown, his duties, and the endless politics of the Atlantean council, which handicap him with bureaucracy. A child of both worlds, he spends as much time out of the sea as he does in it to care for his son, something with many of his kingdom resent, and his desire to reveal Atlantis to the surface world and work with them to reduce pollution and climate change are continuously shot down. Frustrated by self-doubt about his role as a leader, Arthur is almost giddy when David Kane returns armed with a powerful trident of his own and wielding forgotten Atlantean technology. Kane’s plot to steal Atlantis’s highly volatile stockpiles of Orichalcum and exacerbate the heating of the world (which also causes a deadly plague to kill many Atlanteans, including Arthur’s mentor, Nuidis Vulko (Willem Dafoe), between movies) causes Arthur great distress. With no way of tracking Black Manta, Arthur enlists the help of King Nereus (Dolph Lundgren) and Topo the octopus to sneak into the desert prion where Orm is held captive and enlist his help since he’s the only one who may be able to lead them to Kane. Arthur jumps at the chance for some action, even if it risks all-out war breaking out, as he’s desperate to get into the thick of it again, to say nothing of trying to connect with his brother and settle the score with his old rival.

Orm is disgusted by his brother’s childishness but proves surprisingly trustworthy.

This dysfunctional dynamic is where the heart of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom lies, and where much of its entertainment value comes from. Emaciated from his time in prison and embittered by his brutish brother’s lack of decorum when it comes to the throne, Orm is depicted as a conniving, untrustworthy bigot who lusts for power. Yet he agrees to help Arthur, and even stats he will willingly return to custody afterwards, out of loyalty to Atlantis, and never misses an opportunity to chastise his brother’s buffoonery and overreliance on his muscles. Orm emits a more stately persona, attempting to use diplomacy rather than brute force; he’s able to lead them to an underwater den of debauchery and an aquatic crime boss, the appropriately named Kingfish (Martin Short), to get information on Black Manta’s location and even drops condescending advice to Arthur about what it means to be a king. The banter and bickering between Arthur and Orm is great; Orm is visibly disgusted by his older brother, and the humiliation he felt at his hands, while Arthur tries to win him over with his boisterous personality and surface world benefits such as beer and cheeseburgers. Although King Nereus cautions about trusting Orm, the former Ocean Master proves surprisingly reliable; he never runs from a fight, doesn’t attempt to kill or sell out Arthur, and doesn’t even show envy at learned Arthur married Mera. Although it seems like Orm is happy to leave King Nereus to die, he saves the king and earns his respect in the process, and even readily joins Arthur in battling Black Manta when he could easily slip away and let them kill each other. Orm proves equally invaluable in delivering exposition about the Black Trident and the titular lost kingdom of Necrus, though the two brothers are briefly set against each other in the finale when Orm claims the Black Trident and briefly falls under its malicious sway.

Possessed and empowered by the Black Trident, Black Manta’s threat is significantly increased,

Established in the first film as a vengeful, sadistic mercenary, David Kane has become obsessed with discovering the secrets of Atlantis so he can repair his Black Manta suit and avenge himself on Aquaman. Kane’s fascination with Atlantis is shared by his reluctant scientific advisor, Doctor Stephen Shin (Park), who’s longing to see Atlantis is manipulated by Kane into helping him figure out Necrus’s ancient weapons. Once he finds the Black Trident, Kane is bombarded with visions, promises of power, and a superhuman lust to free the imprisoned King Kordax (Pilou Asbæk), who’s dark magic slowly infests Black Manta and drives him to the brink of insanity. Even Orm is stunned to learn of Black Manta’s newfound viciousness, which sees him threaten the entire world with climate instability simply for the sake of it rather than for any kind of ransom, and Kordax’s influence means Black Manta can now go toe-to-toe with both Aquaman and Orm without his power suit. However, he still utilises his technology, blasting his enemies with beams of intense energy and combines both science and magic (and a massive disrupter cannon on a repurposed Necrus ship) to showcase his new might. Black Manta’s need to awaken King Kordax and his list for revenge are so powerful that he targets Arthur’s family, critically wounding Mera and Tom and even kidnapping his son with the intention of using his blood to destroy the magic seal imprisoning the undead king. As for King Kordax, he’s more of an ethereal spirit, a ghastly skeletal wraith who whispers in Kane’s ear, possesses any who touch the Black Trident, and formally commanded a legion of undead warriors in battle against his brother, King Atlan (Vincent Regan). Desperate to return to unlife once more, he feeds the ego of whoever wields the Black Trident, compelling them to spill the blood of Atlan’s bloodline so that he and his army can ransack the entire globe!

The Nitty-Gritty:
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom charts the natural next chapter in Arthur’s story; this loveable manchild feels increasing pressure on all sides to grow up and be more responsible as a husband, father, and leader, roles that he attacks with his usual juvenile vigour but which he finds himself questioning at times. Though devoted to his family, he finds the politics of the crown tedious and expresses dissatisfaction with the role, which he only fulfils out of obligation to his mother and his people. There’s no question that he’s a good father (indeed, Tom encourages Arthur to have more children!) or that he wants what’s best for Atlantis, but he desires a worldwide unity that the council aren’t willing to risk and struggles to balance both sides of his life. These issues are explored through his tumultuous relationship with Orm; both were denied a childhood together and are wary, if not frustrated, by each other, with only their love for Atlanna and Atlantis keeping their fragile alliance alive throughout most of the film. They’re two halves of the same coin, though, and both learn a lot from the other; Arthur learns more about what it takes to be a king and Orm learns to not be such a dick and enjoy other cultures. However, while they’re one of the best parts of the film, I would’ve liked to see a little more of this; perhaps a scene or two where Orm does abandon Arthur, or one where Arthur’s knowledge of the surface world helps Orm, or seeing Orm’s stoic disdain crack upon learning that he’s an uncle. The galvanising love show to them both by Atlan helps fill these gaps, as does the presence of King Nereus and the Brine King (John Rhys-Davies), who have their own issues with Orm, but it does feel like some scenes were left on the cutting room floor to keep the pace up.

The visuals and costumes continue to impress, and the fight are more personal this time.

Not that that’s a bad thing; Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom has a very brisk pace that doesn’t waste too much time, but it’s also learned to not interrupt every character moment with a dramatic explosion (there’s even a tongue-in-cheek reference to that at one point. The underwater realms are as captivating as ever, being a neon-drenched wonderland of strange, almost monstrous undersea races and futuristic technology alongside rusted apparatus and long forgotten ancient ruins. Aquaman’s ridiculously good orange/gold armour returns, looking better than ever, and he even gets a sleek, form-fitting black/blue suit and makes him invisible for a few moments at a time, perfect for sneaking into the arid desert prion and battling the dried-out, horrifying guards who dwell there. Although Orm is shafted in the costume department this time around, Mera still catches the eye in her tight little number and Black Manta steals every scene in his ludicrous saucer-like helmet. The fight sequences are much more intense this time, too; moving away from full-scale undersea battles to focus on gritty melee combat, the fights between Aquaman and Black Manta are great now that Kane has received a power boost and is a significant threat able to hideously burn even Atlantean flesh. There are a fair few visually interesting locations on offer as well, from the throne room and market square of Atlantis to the scorching desert and the overgrown, hazardous forest on Black Manta’s island (complete with volcano lair) thanks to the presence of polluting Orichalcum. A fair bit of the film involves ice and frozen locations, too, with Necrus and his army encased in an icy tomb, but overall I found the CGI and action sequences to be really well done; perhaps a bit less bombastic at times, but the focus on crafting meaningful fight scenes benefitted the plot greatly, I feel.

Arthur and Orm come together to defeat Black Manta and repair their relationship.

Despite working surprisingly well as a team, Arthur and Orm are unable to defeat Black Manta; they disrupt his operation, with the help of the remorseful Dr. Shin, but find Kane is willing to sacrifice Arthur Junior to set King Kordax free, leading to a more concentrated assault against Black Manta and the quickly rising undead army of the entrapped king. Determined to save his son, Aquaman battles Black Manta once more, only to find Kane has been fully overtaken by the malicious Kordax. Luckily, Mera and Orm are both on hand to get the baby to safety, but Orm falls under Kordax’s spell when saving Mera and his nephew from certain death. Although it seems like the two brothers are about to fight once more, Arthur tries a different approach, one influenced by his time with Orm and his desire to build bridges between them. Instead of fighting, Arthur also grabs the Black Trident and tries to reason with his brother, with both struggling against Kordax’s influence, and successfully talks Orm down. Orm then provides Arthur with the means to destroy the awakened undead king and finally acknowledges him as his brother in the aftermath, where all involved agree to say that Orm perished in the battle as thanks for his help. With Orm out exploring the surface world for the first time, Arthur makes the decision to finally reveal Atlantis to humanity, directly addressing the United Nations and calling for a global effort in reversing the damage done to the environment and thus ending the DCEU on a surprisingly hopeful message. Sure, the climate change aspects of the film are a little ham-fisted, but I think they’re to be expected in an Aquaman story, especially as suspicion of humankind is such a prominent aspect of the mistreated Atlanteans.

The Summary:
I was excited for an Aquaman sequel; I’ve loved Jason Momoa in the role right from the start and really enjoyed the first film, so it bugged me that Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom was delayed and pushed back and mired in controversy and said to be awful. It really isn’t, to be fair; it’s not as good as the first (though repeated viewings may change that opinion) but it’s not an incomprehensible mess, an ugly noise of awful CGI, or a lacklustre bore-fest either. It’s a fun, thrilling, and surprisingly intense adventure; Black Manta’s vendetta against Aquaman is deeply personal, as are the issues between Arthur and Orm, and the performances of those three actors really sell that. Kane is a cold-blooded, merciless pirate who blood on his mind; Orm is a bitter and resentful fallen king; and Arthur is just trying to do the right thing but struggling with his suitability to the throne. While the actors all do a fantastic job of embodying their roles, the visual effects are absolutely top-notch; I love seeing these characters come to life, Atlantis is a gorgeous undersea society, and the various dishevelled ruins and repurposed technology really give a sense of scale and time to this world. The bickering between Arthur and Orm more than makes up for Mera’s dramatically reduced role and makes this more of a dysfunctional buddy comedy at times, but the more personal and fierce fight sequences are just as appealing to me. It’s shame that the DCEU died out so quickly; I don’t relish having to restart Aquaman’s story and find a new actor for the role, but at least we have these two movies to show us what the character is capable of in the right hands. Ultimately, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom may not be the best DCEU or superhero movie you’ll ever see, but I think it’s definitely high in the ranks and worth your time for the lead actor alone, but there’s plenty to enjoy beyond that if you’re simply looking for a fun and surprisingly intense action film.

My Rating:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Great Stuff

Did you enjoy Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom? How do you think it compares against the first film and other DCEU movies? Did you enjoy Jason Momoa’s performance and Arthur’s relationship with Orm? Were you glad that Arthur Junior was spared the fate of his comic book counterpart? What did you think to Black Manta and his newfound power boost? Were you annoyed by the climate change plot, or did you find it suitable for the film? Who would you like to see portray Aquaman in James Gunn’s new DC Universe? Whatever your thoughts on Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, and Aquaman in general, drop a comment below or on my social media.